or & or

ghostyjack · 03-30-2010, 06:46 AM

I know some prefer to use and instead of and , but as far as I can see they are rendered the same.

Can someone explain to me what is the difference between them and why I should use one or the other.

Also, are there any circumstances where you would mix their use?

Jellby · 03-30-2010, 07:16 AM

and are semantic, and are presentational. means emphasized, and while the default is having emphasized text displayed in italics, you could choose to have it underlined, or red, or in a different font... means italic, and while it is possible to change its appearance with CSS, it would be weird to have an element that's not italic. It's basically a matter of style, with the content and presentation separation encouraged by HTML+CSS, semantic markup is preferred.

ghostyjack · 03-30-2010, 07:37 AM

That makes sense, thanks Jellby.

If I didn't apply any style to and , I take it that they would used defaults of italic and bold for their behaviour?

charleski · 03-30-2010, 08:01 AM

The semantic tags and are preferred for general html because they work better with audio browsers and other text-to-speech systems. They should default to italic and bold respectively, so there's no practical difference unless you want your content to work well with TTS.

03-30-2010, 06:46 AM	#1
ghostyjack Guru Posts: 718 Karma: 1085610 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Bristol, England Device: PRS-T1, 1825PT, Galaxy Tab, One X, TF700T, Aura HD, Nexus 7	<em> or <i> & <strong> or <b> I know some prefer to use <i> and <b> instead of <em> and <strong>, but as far as I can see they are rendered the same. Can someone explain to me what is the difference between them and why I should use one or the other. Also, are there any circumstances where you would mix their use?

03-30-2010, 07:16 AM	#2
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,515 Karma: 18512745 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	<em> and <strong> are semantic, <i> and <b> are presentational. <em> means emphasized, and while the default is having emphasized text displayed in italics, you could choose to have it underlined, or red, or in a different font... <i> means italic, and while it is possible to change its appearance with CSS, it would be weird to have an <i> element that's not italic. It's basically a matter of style, with the content and presentation separation encouraged by HTML+CSS, semantic markup is preferred.

03-30-2010, 07:37 AM	#3
ghostyjack Guru Posts: 718 Karma: 1085610 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Bristol, England Device: PRS-T1, 1825PT, Galaxy Tab, One X, TF700T, Aura HD, Nexus 7	That makes sense, thanks Jellby. If I didn't apply any style to <em> and <strong>, I take it that they would used defaults of italic and bold for their behaviour?

03-30-2010, 08:01 AM	#4
charleski Wizard Posts: 1,196 Karma: 1281258 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: PRS-505	The semantic tags <em> and <strong> are preferred for general html because they work better with audio browsers and other text-to-speech systems. They should default to italic and bold respectively, so there's no practical difference unless you want your content to work well with TTS.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Strong rumours Ipad 2 could be available by Christmas	garygibsonsf	News	22	08-19-2010 12:02 PM
Over 21K downloads and still going strong	JanG	Writers' Corner	13	02-14-2010 05:39 AM
Wood Hard Case - Very Strong	badspell68	Sony Reader	5	02-19-2009 04:12 PM
Looking for a strong case in the US	DesiLinguist	iRex	0	02-19-2009 10:28 AM

Advert