Here the abstract inlines are broken down until only true and usable tags will remain. Let's recall:
<!entity % inline " (#pcdata | f| x| %emph; |sq| %xref | %index | file )* " >
<!entity % emph " em|it|bf|sf|sl|tt|cparam " >
The emphasizes are gathering the tags for emphasizing inline text.
The different types of emphasizes are:
em
-> The Emphasize TagI hate to be redundant but I have to say: The emphasize tag you place for emphasized text. Normally it's mapped to italic letters. So if you write <em/a emphasized text/
it will be mapped to a emphasized text.
it
-> The Italic TagThe italic tag you place for a cursive mapping. If you write <it/a italic text/
it will be mapped to a italic text.
bf
-> The Boldface TagThe boldface tag you place for a bold mapping. If you write <bf/a bold text/
it will be mapped to a bold text.
sf
-> The Swissfont TagI know that Tom Gordon from GMD is telling that this is the sans serif
tag. My interpretation of the sf is swissfont wich for me is more easy to remember. This is mapping the inlined text to a font wich is out of the helvetica family. So <sf/a swissfont text/
will be mapped to a swissfont text.
sl
-> The Slanted TagI think I skip the explanation. <sl/a slanted text/
will be mapped to a slanted text.
tt
-> The Terminaltype TagText tagged with terminaltype will be placed inline, just like all the other text within a paragraph. It will not be included into source output if you are workink as described in section Literate Programming, even if it's looking like typed code. <tt/a terminal typed text/
will be mapped to a terminal typed text
.
Normally this one could be viewed the same level like one of the emphasize tags, but the definition of the linuxdoc dtd is placing it same level like the emphasizes, and so I do.
The shortquote
tag is a inline quotation, not forming an own paragraph. The text <sq/a short quote/
is mapped to "a short quote".
The formula tag allows us to note down a mathematical formula within the normal text, not appearing in an own line. So the text <f>x=y<sup>2</sup></f>
will be displayed as x=y2. See Mathematical Fomulas for the tags valid within the formula.
The external tag is passing the tagged data directly through the parser, without modifying it. E.g. to LaTeX.