Compose tips | Edinburgh College Students' Association

Compose tips

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <img> <h2> <h1> <h3> <div> <span> <section> <b> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <p> <table> <td> <tr>

    This site allows HTML content. While learning all of HTML may feel intimidating, learning how to use a very small number of the most basic HTML "tags" is very easy. This table provides examples for each tag that is enabled on this site.

    For more information see W3C's HTML Specifications or use your favorite search engine to find other sites that explain HTML.

    Tag DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
    Anchors are used to make links to other pages.<a href="https://ecsa.scot">ECSA</a>ECSA
    Emphasized<em>Emphasized</em>Emphasized
    Strong<strong>Strong</strong>Strong
    Cited<cite>Cited</cite>Cited
    Block quoted<blockquote>Block quoted</blockquote>
    Block quoted
    Coded text used to show programming source code<code>Coded</code>Coded
    No help provided for tag img.
    Heading<h2>Subtitle</h2>

    Subtitle
    Heading<h1>Title</h1>

    Title
    Heading<h3>Subtitle three</h3>

    Subtitle three
    No help provided for tag div.
    No help provided for tag span.
    No help provided for tag section.
    Bolded<b>Bolded</b>Bolded
    Unordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ul> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ul>
    • First item
    • Second item
    Ordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ol> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ol>
    1. First item
    2. Second item
    No help provided for tag li.
    Definition lists are similar to other HTML lists. <dl> begins the definition list, <dt> begins the definition term and <dd> begins the definition description.<dl> <dt>First term</dt> <dd>First definition</dd> <dt>Second term</dt> <dd>Second definition</dd> </dl>
    First term
    First definition
    Second term
    Second definition
    No help provided for tag dt.
    No help provided for tag dd.
    By default paragraph tags are automatically added, so use this tag to add additional ones.<p>Paragraph one.</p> <p>Paragraph two.</p>

    Paragraph one.

    Paragraph two.
    Table<table> <tr><th>Table header</th></tr> <tr><td>Table cell</td></tr> </table>
    Table header
    Table cell
    No help provided for tag td.
    No help provided for tag tr.

    Most unusual characters can be directly entered without any problems.

    If you do encounter problems, try using HTML character entities. A common example looks like &amp; for an ampersand & character. For a full list of entities see HTML's entities page. Some of the available characters include:

    Character DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
    Ampersand&amp;&
    Greater than&gt;>
    Less than&lt;<
    Quotation mark&quot;"

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs are automatically recognized. The <br /> line break, <p> paragraph and </p> close paragraph tags are inserted automatically. If paragraphs are not recognized simply add a couple blank lines.