Files
- Pages use the extension
.8tml, stylesheets.8ss. - Clients recognize a page by its header, not by its file name or HTTP content type.
- A source line should be at most 255 characters long. Clients may cut longer lines.
Character set
8TML uses 7-bit ASCII. The printable characters are 32 to 126.
| In the file | The client shows |
|---|---|
| LF | a line break |
| CR LF | a line break (the CR is ignored) |
| CR alone | a line break |
| Tab | one space |
| Bytes 128-255 | a replacement character, ? |
Text from the web often contains curly quotes, accented letters and dashes. The HTTPS proxy turns the common ones into plain ASCII on the way.
Characters a machine lacks
Not every 8-bit machine has every ASCII character. A client shows its nearest or native equivalent instead. On Commodore machines:
| ASCII | Shown as |
|---|---|
\ |
£ |
^ |
↑ |
_ |
← |
` |
a line graphic |
{ } ~ and the vertical bar |
graphic characters |
The ZX Spectrum shows ` as £; the Atari shows ` { } ~ as graphic characters. See Platforms.
8TML’s own markup only uses characters every machine has, with one exception: the ``` fence of preformatted text, which is never displayed.
Upper and lower case in keywords
Keywords are case-insensitive: header and stylesheet keys, color names, style words, tag names, block types and field types. TITLE:, <YELLOW> and :::FORM POST work, so a page can be typed on a machine that starts up in uppercase.