Block elements are XML elements that can be directly inserted inside a Page element. They are used to structure the document, but are not mixed with text : it is not possible to insert text directly under Page, because text must necessarily be inside a block element.
XPAGES has the following block elements :
- Section : used to identify an area inside a page, with a title, a semantic role, and an importance. The role is optional, but is important to give meaning to the different parts of the document. It can also be used later to display sections with the same role in a similar way, to visually distinguish them from other sections.
- Paragraph : a paragraph is one or several sentences. To do a "line break" (this idea is quoted because it is related to presentation instead of content), it is necessary to create a new paragraph.
- List : a list of List item elements with bullets or numbers. Items can contain text, but also paragraphs or sublists.
- Table : a table is formed with a given number of lines and columns. It is possible to specify a line of titles (the first line of the table). Also, cells can be merged, and an alignment can be specified inside the cells.
- Image environment : an element grouping the informations related to an image, animation or video (copyright and legend), and a link to the corresponding file. It is also possible to create a link on the image, so that a click on it redirects to another part of the site or an external page. In the case of a video available in several alternative formats, the files have to be specified inside a Formats element.
- Interactive application : a program written in Java, Flash, or HTML/Javascript. This new XPAGES element replaces the old elements Java applets and Flash object. If an application is used several times on the site, it is possible to store it in a contribution and to use it in other contributions. In that case, the contribution attribute is used to specify where to look for it.
- Comment : a comment of the author, that will not be displayed on the website. Very useful for instance to mark parts to develop or correct at the time of writing.
- Code : a block of computer code whose formatting must be preserved.
- Exercise : an exercise (see later).
- Quiz : a quiz (see later).
- Bibliography : a list of bibliographic and webographic references.
