Entering Inline Elements

Inline elements are used to mark words or phrases within a paragraph of text. These elements affect the font used to format particular items.

To Emphasize a Word or Phrase

Use the <emph> element (emphasis) as shown:

<emph> text <\emph>  

Or, use the shorthand form:

!! text !! 

Emphasized text is displayed using an italic font.

Example

Here's how you might emphasize an important word:

A thousand times <emph>no<\emph> 

Or, using the shorthand form:

A thousand times !!no!!

In both cases, the word "no" is displayed in italics.

To Enter a Book Title

Use the <book> element as shown:

 <book>  title <\book>  

Or, use the short form:

 book| title |

Book titles are displayed using an italic font.

Example

Here's how you would enter the title of this guide:

<book|The Help System Author's and Programmer's Guide|

To Emphasize Using a Bold Font

Use the <term> element as shown:

<term nogloss> bold text <\term>

Or, use the shorthand form:

<term nogloss |bold text |

The <term> element is used to create a glossary entry. However, by adding the nogloss parameter, the text is displayed in a bold font without being added to the glossary.

To Display a Computer Literal

Use the <computer> element as shown:

 <computer>  text  <\computer>  

Or, use the shorthand form:

 
`` text ''

Example

Computer text is useful for identifying a file name. Here the helptag.opt file name is tagged using shorthand markup. The file name will be displayed in computer text.

This markup:

Add the search path to your "helptag.opt" file.

produces this output:

Add the search path to your helptag.opt file.

To Display a Variable

Use the <var> element (variable) as shown:

<var> text <\var>  

Or, use the short form:

<var |text | 

Or, use the shorthand form:

%% text %%

Variables are displayed using an italic font.

Example

This command-line syntax uses a variable to show that the user supplies a file name.

dtpad %%filename%%

It produces this output:

dtpad filename

Variables can appear within computer text or computer example listings. This example specifies volume as a variable part of a file name:

The HelpTag software takes your "%%volume%%.htg" file as input.

It produces:

The HelpTag software takes your volume.htg file as input.

In both of these examples, the %% pairs could have been entered with the long form (<var>...<\var>) or the short form (<var|...|).