HTML 3.2 Compatibility Test

This page tests AWeb's compatibility with the HTML 3.2 standard (W3C Recommendation, January 1997). Each section demonstrates supported features and clearly marks any incompatibilities or limitations.

Quick Navigation

Document Structure

Fully Supported

All HTML 3.2 document structure elements are fully supported:

<HTML> - Document root element
<HEAD> - Document head section
<BODY> - Document body with attributes:
- BGCOLOR - Background color
- TEXT - Text color
- LINK - Link color
- VLINK - Visited link color
- ALINK - Active link color
- BACKGROUND - Background image
<TITLE> - Document title
<BASE> - Base URL for relative links
<ISINDEX> - Simple search form
<META> - Meta information
<LINK> - Related resources

Test Examples

This document uses HTML 3.2 DOCTYPE: <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">

The BODY element above demonstrates all color attributes working correctly.

Text Formatting

Fully Supported

Headings

What you should see: Six levels of headings, each progressively smaller.

Test:

Heading Level 1 (H1)

Heading Level 2 (H2)

Heading Level 3 (H3)

Heading Level 4 (H4)

Heading Level 5 (H5)

Heading Level 6 (H6)

Paragraphs and Line Breaks

What you should see: Paragraphs with automatic spacing and line breaks creating vertical spacing.

Test:

This is a paragraph element. Paragraphs group text into logical blocks with automatic spacing.

This is another paragraph, separated from the previous one.

This line has a line break before it using the BR element.

Multiple line breaks create vertical spacing.

Horizontal Rules

What you should see: Horizontal lines with different widths, sizes, and styles.

Test:

Preformatted Text

What you should see: Text that preserves spacing and line breaks exactly as written.

Test:

This is PRE (preformatted) text.
It preserves    spacing   and
line breaks exactly as written.

This is LISTING format. Similar to PRE but with monospace font. This is XMP format. Also preserves formatting. <HTML> tags shown literally.

Text Alignment

What you should see: Text aligned left, center, and right using different methods.

Test:
This text is centered using the CENTER tag (HTML 3.2 standard).

This paragraph is left-aligned (default).

This paragraph is center-aligned.

This paragraph is right-aligned.

DIV left-aligned

DIV center-aligned

DIV right-aligned

Block Quotes

What you should see: Indented block quote text.

Test:

This is a block quote. It is typically indented to distinguish quoted text from regular paragraphs. Block quotes can contain multiple paragraphs and other elements.

Address

What you should see: Address text typically rendered in italics and indented.

Test:

This is an ADDRESS element, typically used for contact information.
It is usually rendered in italics and may be indented.

Partially Supported (Tolerant Mode Only)

What you should see: Text that doesn't break (NOBR) and word break opportunities (WBR). Note: These require tolerant mode.

Test:

This text will not break across lines (NOBR tag - requires tolerant mode)

Here is a wordbreak opportunity (WBR tag - requires tolerant mode)

Text Style Elements

Fully Supported - Physical Styles

What you should see: Text with bold, italic, underline, and strikethrough formatting.

Test:

Bold text (B) Italic text (I) Underlined text (U) ~~Strikethrough text (STRIKE)~~

Fully Supported - Inserted and Deleted Text (HTML 4.0)

What you should see: Inserted text should appear in red with underline, and deleted text should appear in grey with strikethrough.

Test:

Inserted text (INS) - This text should appear in red with underline to indicate it was inserted

~~Deleted text (DEL) - This text should appear in grey with strikethrough to indicate it was deleted~~

This is normal text. This part was inserted and ~~this part was deleted~~ from the document.

Fully Supported - Monospace Styles

What you should see: Text rendered in monospace font for code, sample, keyboard, and variable text.

Test:

Teletype text (TT) Code text (CODE) Sample text (SAMP) Keyboard text (KBD) Variable text (VAR)

Fully Supported - Logical Styles

What you should see: Text with logical styling - emphasized, strong, citation, and definition formatting.

Test:

Emphasized text (EM) Strong text (STRONG) Citation text (CITE) Definition text (DFN)

Fully Supported - Size and Positioning

What you should see: Text with different sizes (BIG, SMALL) and positioning (subscript, superscript).

Test:

Big text (BIG) normal text small text (SMALL)

Normal text _{subscript (SUB)} and ^{superscript (SUP)}

Fully Supported - Font Styling

What you should see: Text with different font sizes, colors, and font faces.

Test:

Font size 1 Font size 2 Font size 3 Font size 4 Font size 5 Font size 6 Font size 7

Red text Blue text Green text Magenta text (#ff00ff)

Courier font Times font

Partially Supported (Tolerant Mode Only)

What you should see: Blinking text. Note: Requires tolerant mode (Netscape extension).

Test:

This text blinks (BLINK tag - requires tolerant mode, Netscape extension)

Lists

Fully Supported - Unordered Lists

What you should see: Unordered lists with different bullet styles - disc, circle, and square.

Test:

First unordered item
Second unordered item
Third unordered item

Disc bullet (default)

Circle bullet

Square bullet

Fully Supported - Ordered Lists

What you should see: Ordered lists with different numbering styles - numbers, letters, and Roman numerals, with custom start values.

Test:

First ordered item
Second ordered item
Third ordered item

Type 1 (numbers, default)
Continuing with numbers

Type A (uppercase letters)
Continuing with letters

Type a (lowercase letters)
Continuing with letters

Type I (uppercase Roman numerals)
Continuing with Roman numerals

Type i (lowercase Roman numerals)
Continuing with Roman numerals

Ordered list starting at 5
Continuing from 5

Fully Supported - Definition Lists

What you should see: Definition lists with terms and their definitions. Multiple definitions can be associated with a single term.

Test:

Term 1: Definition 1 - can be multiple paragraphs
Term 2: Definition 2; Multiple definitions for same term

Fully Supported - Directory and Menu Lists

What you should see: Directory and menu lists, which are similar to unordered lists but with different semantic meaning.

Test:

Directory item 1

Directory item 2

Directory item 3

Menu item 1

Menu item 2

Menu item 3

Fully Supported - Nested Lists

What you should see: Lists nested within other lists, demonstrating hierarchical structure.

Test:

Outer item 1
- Inner item 1
- Inner item 2
Outer item 2
1. Nested ordered item 1
2. Nested ordered item 2

Links and Images

Fully Supported - Hyperlinks

What you should see: Various types of hyperlinks - regular links, anchor links, mailto links, and links that open in new windows.

Test:

This is a regular hyperlink to a local page.

This is a link to an anchor on this page.

This is a mailto link.

This link opens in a new window (TARGET attribute).

Fully Supported - Anchors

What you should see: Named anchors that can be used for navigation within the page.

Test:

This page uses named anchors for navigation. The anchor at the top is:

Fully Supported - Images

What you should see: Images with different alignments (left, right, top, middle, bottom) and text flowing around them.

Test:

Image with alt text: AWeb Logo

Image aligned left: This text flows around the left-aligned image. The image has horizontal and vertical spacing attributes.

Image aligned right: This text flows around the right-aligned image.

Image aligned top: Text aligned to top

Image aligned middle: Text aligned to middle

Image aligned bottom: Text aligned to bottom

Fully Supported - Client-Side Image Maps

What you should see: An image map with clickable areas defined by different shapes (rectangle, circle, polygon).

Test:

Image map (requires an image):

Tables

Fully Supported - Basic Table Structure

What you should see: A basic table with caption, header row, and data rows.

Test:

Basic Table with Caption
Header 1	Header 2	Header 3
Cell 1,1	Cell 1,2	Cell 1,3
Cell 2,1	Cell 2,2	Cell 2,3

Fully Supported - Table Attributes

What you should see: A table with various attributes - border, width, cellpadding, and cellspacing.

Test:

Table with border, width, cellpadding, and cellspacing
Header 1	Header 2
Cell with padding	Cell with spacing

Fully Supported - Cell Alignment

What you should see: Table cells with different horizontal (left, center, right) and vertical (top, middle, bottom) alignment.

Test:

Left aligned	Center aligned	Right aligned
Top aligned	Middle aligned	Bottom aligned

Fully Supported - Colspan and Rowspan

What you should see: Table cells that span multiple columns (COLSPAN) and multiple rows (ROWSPAN).

Test:

Spans 2 columns		Normal cell
Spans 2 rows	Cell 2,2	Cell 2,3
Spans 2 rows	Cell 3,2	Cell 3,3

Fully Supported - Table Background Colors

What you should see: Tables and cells with different background colors.

Test:

Header 1	Header 2
White cell	Yellow cell

Fully Supported - Table Width

What you should see: Tables with different width specifications - percentage and fixed pixel widths.

Test:

50% width table

Second column

Fixed 400 pixel width table

Second column

Fully Supported - Background Image Alignment (bgalign)

What you should see: Tables with background images that are properly aligned relative to their containing elements (table, row, or cell) rather than the document origin. Background images should tile correctly within each element's boundaries.

Test:

Table with background image: The background image should be aligned to the table itself and tile within the table boundaries.

Cell 1,1 with table background	Cell 1,2 with table background
Cell 2,1 with table background	Cell 2,2 with table background

Table with row background image: The background image should be aligned to each row and tile within the row boundaries.

Cell 1,1 with row background	Cell 1,2 with row background
Cell 2,1 (no background)	Cell 2,2 (no background)

Table with cell background images: Each cell's background image should be aligned to that specific cell and tile within the cell boundaries.

Cell 1,1 with cell background	Cell 1,2 (no background)
Cell 2,1 (no background)	Cell 2,2 with cell background

Note: The bgalign mechanism ensures that background images are correctly positioned relative to their containing element (table, row, or cell), not the document origin. This is especially important for nested tables and scrolling.

Forms

HT1: Form Container with METHOD and ACTION

What it tests: The FORM element with METHOD (GET/POST) and ACTION attributes.

How to run: This is a demonstration form. The form below uses METHOD="GET" which appends form data to the URL.

Expected results: The form should be displayed. When submitted, it should send data using the GET method to test.cgi.

Test:

HT2: Form with METHOD="POST"

What it tests: The FORM element with METHOD="POST" which sends data in the HTTP request body.

How to run: Fill out the form below and click Submit.

Expected results: The form should send data using POST method. The data is sent in the request body, not in the URL.

Test:

HT3: Text Input Fields

What it tests: INPUT TYPE="text", TYPE="password", and TYPE="hidden" with SIZE, MAXLENGTH, and VALUE attributes.

How to run: Type in the text field, try typing in the password field (characters should be masked), and note the hidden field is not visible.

Expected results: Text field should accept input up to MAXLENGTH characters. Password field should mask characters. Hidden field should not be visible but will be submitted with the form.

Test:

HT4: Checkboxes

What it tests: INPUT TYPE="checkbox" with CHECKED attribute. Multiple checkboxes can be selected.

How to run: Click the checkboxes below. You should be able to select multiple options.

Expected results: Checkboxes should toggle on/off when clicked. Option 1 should be checked by default. Multiple checkboxes can be selected simultaneously.

Test:

HT5: Radio Buttons

What it tests: INPUT TYPE="radio" with CHECKED attribute. Only one radio button in a group can be selected.

How to run: Click different radio buttons below. Only one should be selected at a time.

Expected results: Radio buttons should allow only one selection per group (same NAME). Choice A should be selected by default. Clicking another radio button should deselect the previous one.

Test:

HT6: File Upload

What it tests: INPUT TYPE="file" with ENCTYPE="multipart/form-data" for file uploads.

How to run: Click the file input field below. A file requester should open to select a file.

Expected results: The file input should display a field and button. Clicking it should open a file requester. The form must use ENCTYPE="multipart/form-data" for file uploads to work.

Test:

HT7: Select Dropdown (Single Selection)

What it tests: SELECT element with OPTION elements and SELECTED attribute for single selection dropdowns.

How to run: Click the dropdown below and select different options.

Expected results: The dropdown should show a list of options. Option 1 should be selected by default. Only one option can be selected at a time.

Test:

HT8: Select Multiple

What it tests: SELECT element with MULTIPLE attribute and SIZE attribute for multiple selection lists.

How to run: Click on options in the list below. Hold Ctrl (or Cmd on Mac) and click to select multiple options.

Expected results: The list should display multiple options. Option 1 and Option 3 should be selected by default. You should be able to select multiple options by holding Ctrl/Cmd while clicking.

Test:

HT9: Textarea

What it tests: TEXTAREA element with ROWS and COLS attributes for multi-line text input.

How to run: Type multiple lines of text in the textarea below. Try pressing Enter to create new lines.

Expected results: The textarea should display a multi-line text input field. You should be able to type multiple lines and press Enter to create line breaks. The field should be scrollable if content exceeds the visible area.

Test:

HT10: Submit and Reset Buttons

What it tests: INPUT TYPE="submit", TYPE="reset", and TYPE="button" elements.

How to run: Fill out the form below, then try the Submit button (sends form data), Reset button (clears form), and Button (no default action).

Expected results: Submit button should send the form data to the ACTION URL. Reset button should clear all form fields to their initial values. Button element has no default action (typically used with ONCLICK handlers).

Test:

HT11: Comprehensive Form Test

What it tests: A complete form with all HTML 3.2 form elements and attributes working together.

How to run: Fill out all fields in the form below, then click Submit to test form submission, or Reset to clear all fields.

Expected results: All form elements should work correctly. Submit should send all form data. Reset should clear all fields to their initial state. The form should demonstrate all HTML 3.2 form capabilities.

Test:

Graceful Failure (Malformed HTML 3.2)

These samples deliberately violate markup conventions; layout must survive them.

HT12: Unclosed inline emphasis — EXPECT: following blocks still render

What it tests: Opening <I> without closing before a following <P>.

Test:

HT12 intro italic start without end-tag before next paragraph.

HT12 second paragraph must remain visible (recovery).

HT13: Table cells without explicit ROW — EXPECT: tolerant recovery

What it tests: Adjacent <TD> elements appear without wrapping <TR> (invalid structure).

Test:

HT13 cell A

HT13 cell B

HT13 footer line after sick TABLE.

Compatibility Notes

HTML 3.2 Features Fully Supported

All document structure elements (HTML, HEAD, BODY, TITLE, BASE, META, LINK, ISINDEX)
All text formatting elements (headings, paragraphs, line breaks, horizontal rules)
All preformatted text elements (PRE, LISTING, XMP)
Text alignment (CENTER, DIV with ALIGN, P with ALIGN)
All text style elements (physical, logical, monospace, size, positioning)
Inserted and deleted text (INS, DEL - HTML 4.0)
Font styling (FONT, BASEFONT with SIZE, COLOR, FACE)
All list types (UL, OL, DL, DIR, MENU) with all attributes
Hyperlinks and anchors (A with HREF, NAME, TARGET)
Images (IMG with all standard attributes)
Client-side image maps (MAP, AREA with all SHAPE types)
Tables (TABLE, CAPTION, TR, TD, TH with all HTML 3.2 attributes)
Forms (FORM, INPUT, SELECT, OPTION, TEXTAREA with all HTML 3.2 attributes)
Character entities (named and numeric)

HTML 3.2 Features Requiring Tolerant Mode

NOBR - No-break text (Netscape extension)
WBR - Word break opportunity (Netscape extension)
BLINK - Blinking text (Netscape extension)

HTML 3.2 Limitations

Some advanced table features may have rendering quirks
Complex nested forms may not be fully supported
Some image map coordinate calculations may have minor issues

HTML 3.2 vs HTML 4.0

This page tests HTML 3.2 specifically. For HTML 4.0 features, see html4_test.html.

Last Updated: 2026 - AWeb 3 HTML 3.2 Compatibility Test

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