HTML <code> blocks - Should HTML tabs display inside?

Question

Within a standard code block, should HTML appear exactly as written?

For example, if I put the following:

<code>
<script type="text/javascript">Something in javascript</script>
</code>

Should it appear exactly as above?

I assume the code button here on stackoverflow is doing something else other than just putting it in ?

Thanks!

Answer 1

No. <code> isn't even block-level. It also depends on whether you mean "traditional" HTML or XHTML.

Answer 2

To make tags appear as they are use the <pre> tags instead:

<pre>
  <script type="text/javascript">Something in javascript</script>
</pre>

Answer 3

There are certain characters that must be encoded even in the code block. My preference is converting the less than, greater than and ampersand. This handles most of the code.