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Re: bold vs. strong, italics vs. emphasis

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From: Jukka K. Korpela
Date: Dec 14, 2012 1:05PM

2012-12-14 21:57, Chagnon | PubCom wrote:

> While doing research for a client's project, I stumbled on this article that
> attempts to describe the difference between the <b> and <strong> tags, and
> the <i> and <em> tags in HTML4 and HTML5.

It's a rather theoretical distinction, with little or no practical impact.

> Here's what I understand from the author's interpretation of the HTML 4 & 5
> specifications:
>
> <b> and <i> are only for visual formatting, that is to make the text appear
> different on the screen. From the spec, "stylistically offset from the
> normal prose without conveying any extra importance."

That adds confusion to the confusion, confusing HTML5 drafts (which are,
in this issue, rather personal inventions by some people) with HTML 4
specifications. HTML5 drafts propose to redefine <b> and <i> in rather
absurd ways, purporting them to be "semantic".

> How does this interpretation mesh with accessibility?

Not much.

> Does it mean that <b>
> and <i> are only stylized and, therefore, not necessary for blind users to
> see?

By HTML specs, <b> and <i> mean bold face and italics. In practice, they
mean emphasis of some kind. Realistically speaking, browsers and
assistive software should treat them that way. But inline emphasis is
mostly lost anyway.

Out of a habit, I use <strong> and <em> for emphasis and <b> and <i>
only when I really mean typographic formatting. But the world behaves
differently, and I don't blame it.

Yucca