HTML Formatting Tags

HTML uses tags like and for formatting output, like bold or italic text.

These HTML tags are called formatting tags (look at the bottom of this page for a complete reference).

	Often <strong> renders as <b>, and <em> renders as <i>. However, there is a difference in the meaning of these tags: <b> or <i> defines bold or italic text only. <strong> or <em> means that you want the text to be rendered in a way that the user understands as "important". Today, all major browsers render strong as bold and em as italics. However, if a browser one day wants to make a text highlighted with the strong feature, it might be cursive for example and not bold!

Often renders as , and renders as .

However, there is a difference in the meaning of these tags:

 or defines bold or italic text only.

 or means that you want the text to be rendered in a way that the user understands as "important". Today, all major browsers render strong as bold and em as italics. However, if a browser one day wants to make a text highlighted with the strong feature, it might be cursive for example and not bold!

Try it Yourself - Examples

Text formatting
How to format text in an HTML document.

Preformatted text
How to control the line breaks and spaces with the pre tag.

"Computer output" tags
How different "computer output" tags will be displayed.

Address
How to define contact information for the author/owner of an HTML document.

Abbreviations and acronyms
How to handle abbreviations and acronyms.

Text direction
How to change the text direction.

Quotations
How to handle long and short quotations.

Deleted and inserted text
How to mark deleted and inserted text.

HTML Text Formatting Tags

Tag	Description
<b>	Defines bold text
<big>	Defines big text
<em>	Defines emphasized text
<i>	Defines italic text
<small>	Defines small text
<strong>	Defines strong text
<sub>	Defines subscripted text
<sup>	Defines superscripted text
<ins>	Defines inserted text
<del>	Defines deleted text

HTML "Computer Output" Tags

Tag	Description
<code>	Defines computer code text
<kbd>	Defines keyboard text
<samp>	Defines sample computer code
<tt>	Defines teletype text
<var>	Defines a variable
<pre>	Defines preformatted text

HTML Citations, Quotations, and Definition Tags

Tag	Description
<abbr>	Defines an abbreviation
<acronym>	Defines an acronym
<address>	Defines contact information for the author/owner of a document
<bdo>	Defines the text direction
<blockquote>	Defines a long quotation
<q>	Defines a short quotation
<cite>	Defines a citation
<dfn>	Defines a definition term

TechSum

HTML Formatting Tags