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4.9 Character Emphasis Modes

HTML allows you to specify special character highlighting or emphasis (eg boldface, italics, etc). These elements do NOT cause page breaks, and simply change the rendering of the characters enclosed inside the tags.

HTML allows you to specify these modes in two ways: Logically (by the logical meaning of the special text you wish to mark) and physically (by explicitly specifying the style you want, such as italics, boldfaced, underline, etc.). You are STRONGLY urged to use the logical renderings, as these will be more consistently interpreted from browser to browser.

Note that the logical styles may not be distinct (i.e. different logical styles may be rendered in the same way). Also, some browsers do not support all physical styles. For example, Mosaic does NOT support underlined text -- this is rendered without the underline.

Logical Styles

Here are the different logical styles, and examples of the renderings:

EM: Emphasis (usually italics). For example the string  this is example text  is rendered "this is example text".
STRONG: Stronger emphasis (usually bold). For example the string  this is example strong text  is rendered "this is example strong text".
CODE: Example of typed code (usually fixed-width font). For example the string <CODE> this is example code </CODE> is rendered "this is example code".
SAMP: A sequence of literal characters. For example the string <SAMP> this is example text </SAMP> is rendered "this is example text".
KBD: Text to be marked as keyboard input: for example, in an instruction manual this would be the text typed by the user. For example the string <KBD> this is example text </KBD> is rendered "this is example text".
VAR: A variable name. For example, the string <VAR> this is example text </VAR> is rendered "this is example text".
DFN: The defining instance of a term (often rendered bold or bold italic). For example <DFN> this is example text </DFN> is rendered "this is example text".
CITE: A citation (typically rendered in italics). For example <CITE> this is example text </CITE> is rendered "this is example text".

Physical Styles

These elements physically determine the desired renderings. Please try and use the logical forms, whenever possible.

The physical style elements, and their renderings, are:

TT: Fixed width typewriter font. For example <TT> this is example text </TT> is rendered "this is example text".
B: Boldface where available (browser may render this in another manner if boldface is not possible). For example  this is example text  is rendered "this is example text".
I: Italics (may be rendered as slanted in some cases) For example  this is example text  is rendered "this is example text".
U: Underline (may be rendered as slanted in some cases) For example  this is example text  is rendered "this is example text".

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