Showing Hidden HTML Commands

There is a difficulty in illustrating HTML commands on the web that does not exist for book publishers. A command expression will alter the composition of an explanatory article in ways that complicate the format. Particular commands are needed to show HTML commands while disabling the execution they normally cause. The following is enclosed by HTML commands you do not see:

<a href="../joe.html">Joe's work</a>

The above, without the hidden commands would produce:

Joe's work Joe's work would appear distinctively colored to indicate a link. But to show the HTML commands, which teach one how to execute Joe's work, you must enclose the executing commands within other commands. So, what do these enclosure commands look like? Almost like this:

< pre > <a href="../joe.html">Joe's work</a>< /pre >

I said almost because in order to show the format needed I had to put space between the < > symbols and what lies inside them. When you create code there is no space. The "greater than" and "less than" symbols lie immediately next to pre at one end and /pre at the other. No space in between.