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Re: difference in sounce between <strong> and <em>

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From: Jared Smith
Date: Oct 6, 2011 11:51AM

On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 11:33 AM, Angela French < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Can you please tell me what is the difference between how a screen reader reads <strong> versus <em>?

I've never seen a difference in handling between <strong> and <em>. I
suppose a screen reader should read <em> louder or with more
inflection than <strong>. But, most screen readers don't do anything
different with this markup anyway. And the few that do or that are
customized to read them differently don't treat <strong> and <b> or
<em> and <i> any differently - they read the presentational <b> and
<i> the same as they do the semantic <strong> and <em>. While this is
certainly incorrect behavior, this markup is generally used
incorrectly anyway, so it's not all bad.

> Does it make a difference which is used if the purpose is to convey emphasis?

Yes it does, at least if you want to be semantically correct and
follow the HTML spec. It currently doesn't make any difference as far
as accessibility goes.

Jared