HTML3: Block Quotes (BQ & BLOCKQUOTE)

The HTML 3.0 recommendation makes a couple of simple changes in the block quote markup in order to reduce typing (Really!) and improve its suitability for formal citations. I find the lack of these features in the HTML 3.2 draft to be especially disappointing, in that they're info-oriented features neglected in favor of style-oriented flourishes like FONT.

What the HTML 3.0 Specification Says

   Permitted Context: %Body.Content, %flow, %block
   Content Model: %Body.Content followed by optional CREDIT element 

   The BQ element is used for extended quotations. The tag name has
   been abbreviated from HTML 2.0's BLOCKQUOTE to the more convenient
   BQ, and the content model extended to allow the source of the
   quotation to be credited. 

   Example: 

   <BQ>
   <P>But now I shall shortly proffer him the strength and the
   courage of the Geats in combat. He who has the right to it shall
   go once more to the mead-drinking with confident heart, after
   the morning light of another day, the sun clothed in ethereal
   radiance, shines from the south upon the children of men.
   <CREDIT>Beowulf replying to Unferth, from the Anglo-Saxon poem
   "Beowolf", Cotton Vitellus A xv manuscript</CREDIT>
   </BQ>

Compatibilty Issues

1. Most Level 2 browsers won't recoginize BQ as a valid tag, ignoring it completely and letting your text slide around.
2. Level 2 browsers won't render CREDIT differently from the rest of the text, sliding it into the quote and confusing readers.

Recommended Solutions

1. Keep using BLOCKQUOTE -- the HTML 3.0 spec still allows it, and furthermore allows the new CREDIT element to be used in BLOCKQUOTE.
2. Just sneak in a BR between the main text of your quote and the credit. While you won't get fancy formatting, it should be enough of a separation to keep reader from getting confused. (If you really want fancy formatting, you can use I and BR for insurance.)

Advanced Usage

1. Since the contents of CREDIT are usually a person and a citation, authors aiming for complete HTML 3.0 should remember to use the PERSON, AUTHOR, and CREDIT elements as appropriate.
2. BLOCKQUOTE and BQ are permitted to use the LANG attribute to indicate the language of the quote. LANG in mostly for the benefit of indexing software, in this case, but may be useful in the future.

Future Implementations & Alternatives

None of the HTML drafts after 3.0 contain BQ or CREDIT. The W3C seems to have adopted a policy of just including the caption text inside the BLOCKQUOTE, separated from the main text by a BR. I do the same thing, but I still recommend using CITE as appropriate.