Emphasis and importance
The difference between em, strong, i and b.
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em and strong
<em> adds stress of meaning (the intonation changes when read aloud) and <strong> signals that the text is important. Browsers usually show em in italics and strong in bold, but the choice should follow meaning, not looks.
<p>I <em>really</em> want this.</p> <p><strong>Warning:</strong> do not unplug the device.</p>
i, b and u
<i>, <b> and <u> are for stylistic reasons: <i> for a foreign word or technical term, <b> for a keyword, <u> for a misspelling or a special annotation. For plain decoration use CSS.
<p>The word <i lang="la">habitat</i> comes from Latin.</p> <p>Ingredients: <b>flour</b>, <b>eggs</b>, sugar.</p>
Other useful elements
- <mark> highlights text.
- <small> is for fine print.
- <sub> and <sup> are subscript and superscript: H<sub>2</sub>O, m<sup>2</sup>.
- <abbr title="…"> reveals what an abbreviation stands for.
<p>Water is H<sub>2</sub>O and the room is 20 m<sup>2</sup>.</p> <p><abbr title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</abbr> is not a <mark>programming</mark> language.</p>