Appendix C — Glossary

Block

A block element of a document, such as a paragraph. Blocks include paragraphs, headings, block quotes, lists, code blocks.

Block elements are distinguished from inline elements (arranged horizontally in lines within a block, like words) and float elements (that don’t have a fixed position in the text flow, like figures and tables).

Some elements have both block and inline versions (images, formulas). Some have both block and float versions (images, tables).

Some blocks may contain other blocks: block quotes can consist of several paragraphs.

Divs are arbitrary ‘container’ blocks. They are used to group blocks into units to which special typesetting rules can be applied.

Div

An arbitrary container blocks. Divs can have a unique identifier, classes and attributes. Classes are types of Divs, attributes are features that can take various values.

Divs are used to group blocks into a unit to which special typesetting rules can be applied. How Divs are typeset is determined by your house template and the extensions it uses.

For instance, this bit of markdown places a paragraph in a Div uniquely identified as firstpostulate, of type (class) statement, with a style attribute of value theorem:

::: {#firstpostulate .statement style="theorem"}

A line can be drawn from a point to any other point.

:::

Inline

An inline element, such as a word. Inlines include words, emphasized text, citations, inline formulas, inline code.

Inlines elements are distinguished from block elements (arranged vertically one after another, like paragraphs) and float elements (that don’t have a fixed position in the text flow, like figures and tables).

Some elements have both inline and block versions (e.g. formulas, images, quotations, code).

Spans are arbitrary ‘container’ inlines. They are used to group inlines into units to which special typesetting rules can be applied.

Terminal

A tool to interact with your computer via text commands. Also called “command line interface”, “shell”.