On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 12:16 AM, LuKreme <[email protected]> wrote: > <i> and <b> should not be used.
Right. Unless you need text that is italic or bold. <user hat="typographer pedant"> I sometimes need to display type that is in italics, for the sake of being italic, and not because it contains any particular attribute other than its italicness. Same with bold. For example, I'm attempting to represent a textual poem that includes various words in bold, but are bold for no discernable reason based on semantic meaning. In this case, the only options are <span> with styles, or <b>. Otherwise, you're leaving yourself open to the interpretation of the browser developers, who decide what <em> and <strong> should mean. And really, the fact that it's bold or italic may be meaningful, in the context of the poem. (I've pined for an <oblique> element in HTML, as well, but I guess this is what XML/XSLT is for.) Typography variations such as italics are often used in manuscripts (and closed captions) to demonstrate that a sound is quiet, or whispered. You certainly wouldn't use <em> in that situation -- more appropriately, perhaps, <span class="whisper">. (But that's also seven times longer than <i> which, if you don't care about semantics, could be relevant.) </user> I worry sometimes that we're just using <em> to mean italic, swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction. (I've seen code where folks are using <em> to style titles of books in bibliographies. But in general, you're right. If you've got text that should be semantically "bold" or "italic" because of strength or emphasis, <b> and <i> are wrong. I should worry less. --Kerri -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "BBEdit Talk" discussion group on Google Groups. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at <http://groups.google.com/group/bbedit?hl=en> If you have a feature request or would like to report a problem, please email "[email protected]" rather than posting to the group. Follow @bbedit on Twitter: <http://www.twitter.com/bbedit>
