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DCML

The pages here are written in a special markup language, DCML (Disney Comics Markup Language), which is then converted into HTML. DCML contains some extensions to HTML, especially suited for writing these pages. To find the DCML source of a HTML page, just replace the .html at the end of the URL with .dcml instead. (All pages are not written in DCML though.)

General

The headers and footers of the documents are created automatically, with slightly different looks depending on where the file is. (Different for creator and character files.) So the DCML document should start directly with the first header, <H1>. That header will also be used as the title of the document.

To save typing it's possible to use the empty end tag </> in DCML to close the nearest opened tag. Full end tags will be used in the resulting HTML.

Extensions to HTML

<CREATOR>

The CREATOR tag is meant for marking the name of a Disney comics creator, and thus adding a link to the corresponding page on that creator. If the name isn't recognized there will be a warning about that and no link will be created, but other than that it's no problem, so don't avoid this markup just because a particular creator doesn't exist in the Database yet. When you wish to describe the creator in some other words than the full name, you can indicate which creator it is with the NAME attribute instead. The value can be the full name, or the abbreviation used in the Database.

Some typical uses are

The last example also shows how to use the empty end tag. (Possible future enhancement: Make it sufficient to give just last name when there's only one creator with that name in the Database.)

<CHAR>

The CHAR tag works like the CREATOR tag, but is meant for Disney comics characters and makes links to the character pages instead. As for the CREATOR tag it's possible to add a name with the NAME attribute, or otherwise put it in the contents of the markup.

<STORY>

The STORY tag is meant for marking titles or descriptions of stories so they can be made into story links.

To make the story link the story code must be given. If the code is in the text with this markup, that's enough, otherwise it must be added with the CODE attribute. You don't have to write the exact code used in the Database, but it's sufficient with anything that's possible to use in the Inducks searches.

When the code is a publication code, consisting of a publication and then some index in that publication, the publication (but not the full code) often appears in the text. In that case it suffices to give that index with the IX attribute. You need not include the dash separating the numbers in codes like W DD 62-03, so that story can be written as <STORY> IX=03>DD 62<STORY>.

When the code is given in the CODE attribute the contents of the markup is supposed to be a title of the story instead. If it's not a title but just a description of the story, add the attribute TYPE with the value DESC (= description). (The other two possible values are CODE and TITLE, but it should never be necessary to give them explicitly.) The main reason for given TYPE=DESC is that no quotation marks will be added then.

Examples of use:

<SERIES>

Meant for marking a series of stories, like <series>Life of Scrooge</series>.

Currently it makes no link, but only translates to the standard HTML tag Q.

<TITLE>, <BOOK> and <MAG>

Meant for marking a comic book title, a book title, and the title of a fanzine or other magazine, respectively.

Examples:

Currently they make no links, but only translate to the standard HTML tag CITE.

<FILM> and <CARTOON>

These are meant for marking titles of feature movies and short cartoons, respectively. Currently the difference is that the former are translated to the HTML tag CITE and the later to the HTML tag Q. That is perhaps questionable and may change in the future. No links are created, but in the future maybe IMDb links will be created automatically.

<CON>

Meant for marking the name of a contributor to these pages, like in [By <con>Per Starbäck</con>.].

This is supposed to add a link to your introduc(k)tion or homepage. If it doesn't, please tell Per what page it should link to.

<REM>

Marks remarks that shouldn't be at the resulting HTML page at all. This can be used for remarks that may be relevant to the next person updating the page.

Example: 

<creator>Carl Barks</creator> first used
<char>Daisy</char> in
<rem> <story ix=02>WDC 64</story>
      No, this is an error in Barrier's book!
</rem>
<story ix="-?1">WDC 36</story>.
Last updated February 9, 1999.

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