Page Content - HTML QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner's Guide to HTML - page 40

Additional Text Elements
The HTML5 specification contains additional tags that give text different semantic mean-
ings. These tags have either been inherited and redefined from previous HTML revisions or
are brand new for this latest iteration. Here are some of the more commonly used tags:

• <em> is used to stress emphasis. The emphasis is linguistic; if spoken it would

emphasize pronunciation on a word, which would change the nuance of the sen-
tence. By default the browser renders the <em> element as italic text.

• <strong> is used to show strong importance for its content as defined by the

user. By default the browser renders the <strong> element as bold text.

• <small> is used for side comments such as small print, a copyright statement, a

disclaimer and similar items.

• <mark> is a new HTML5 element used to indicate text that we are specifically

trying to highlight without changing its importance or emphasis. The mark ele-
ment represents a run of text in one document marked or highlighted for refer-
ence purposes due to its relevance in another context.

• <sub> defines subscript text. Subscript text is mostly used in math and chem-

istry formulas. It will appear bellow the normal line and will often be rendered
in a smaller font.

• <sup> defines superscript text. Superscript text is mostly used in footnotes or

math. It will appear half a character above the normal line and will often be
rendered in a smaller font.

• <abbr> defines an abbreviation. This element is usually extended with the title

attribute to show the full version of the abbreviation/acronym when we mouse
the cursor over the marked content.