Is it bad practise to use the tag?

Question

Possible Duplicates:
Is it ok to use in place of blindly ?
What's the difference between and , and ?

If so why? I have been told by two developers I do free lance work for, not to use the b tag and instead to use strong. But neither have been able to tell me why exactly.

I rather use b since it's faster to write unless there is a specific reason I shouldn't.

You can use and then convert it to before submitting your work. (And everybody'll be happy.) — Dmitry, Apr 25 '11 at 15:55
I think the best answer to this question is given here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/271743/whats-the-difference-between-b-and-strong-i-and-em — stealthyninja, Apr 25 '11 at 15:58
Haha, "because it's faster to write". Get a real HTML editor, one with auto-completion, and you won't have to make style and design decisions on such an absurd basis ever again. — Cody Gray - on strike, Apr 25 '11 at 16:09

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 25 '11 at 15:54

6

 means strong emphasis. The idea is that when using a different medium (e.g., text-to-speech), you can express strong emphasis through changing the tone.

 means bold. That makes no sense outside of screen display, and more importantly, doesn't explain why something is bold.

answered Apr 25 '11 at 15:54

C. K. Young

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This is true, only if you're writing in HTML4. The new HTML5 draft has a whole new set of semantics for [`em`](http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/the-em-element.html#the-em-element), [`i`](http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/the-i-element.html#the-i-element), [`strong`](http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/the-strong-element.html#the-strong-element), and [`b`](http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/the-b-element.html#the-b-element). – chharvey Jan 21 '12 at 04:44

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 25 '11 at 15:55

HTML5 gives the  tag a new, semantic usage:

The b element represents a span of text to be stylistically offset from the normal prose without conveying any extra importance, such as key words in a document abstract, product names in a review, or other spans of text whose typical typographic presentation is boldened.

http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/text-level-semantics.html#the-b-element

 is different:

The strong element represents strong importance for its contents.

http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/text-level-semantics.html#the-strong-element

Quentin · Answer 3 · 2011-04-25T16:04:32.160

In HTML 4 and XHTML 1, b is a presentational element. It means nothing except "This should be rendered in a bold typeface". Presentation is the job of CSS. HTML is for structure and semantics. If you just want a bold typeface, you should use the CSS font-weight property (along with whatever markup is semantically closest to the content you are marking up).

strong, on the other hand, means "this content has stronger (than em) emphasis". The markup continues to make sense for outputs that can't render using a bold typeface (such as a screen reader) or if (in the future) you decide you want to render your emphasis with (for example) a different background colour instead.

Oded · Answer 4 · 2011-04-25T15:58:01.603

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The  element means - bold, which is a UI concern that should be put in CSS, not in your markup. If you just want to apply a style without meaning, use .

 is semantic - it means that the text is important, whatever that means for your display (or text reader). If there is meaning to having the text marked this way (without any visual concerns), use .

edited Apr 25 '11 at 15:58

answered Apr 25 '11 at 15:52

Oded

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HTML5 gives the tag semantic meaning. http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/text-level-semantics.html#the-b-element – ceejayoz Apr 25 '11 at 15:53
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@ceejayoz - No, it specifically says that it is stylistic only. – Oded Apr 25 '11 at 15:55

Is it bad practise to use the tag?

4 Answers4

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