HTML Formatting Elements w/ Tags (HTML Tutorial part 10)

As you begin to place more and more elements onto your web site, it will become necessary to make minor changes to the formatting of those elements. In our HTML Attributes lesson we discussed ways to add some flavor with attributes and align elements within other elements. Several tags exist to further amplify text elements. These formatting tags can make text bold, italic, sub/superscripted, and more.

Bold, Italic and More

HTML Code:

<p>An example of <b>Bold Text</b></p>
<p>An example of <em>Emphasized Text</em></p>
<p>An example of <strong>Strong Text</strong></p>
<p>An example of <i>Italic Text</i></p>
<p>An example of <sup>superscripted Text</sup></p>
<p>An example of <sub>subscripted Text</sub></p>
<p>An example of <del>struckthrough Text</del></p>
<p>An example of <code>Computer Code Text</code></p>

HTML Formatting:

An example of Bold Text
An example of Emphasized Text
An example of Strong Text
An example of Italic Text
An example of ^{superscripted Text}
An example of _{subscripted Text}
An example of struckthrough Text
An example of Computer Code Text

All of these tags add a pinch of flavor to paragraph elements. They can be used with any text type element.

HTML - Formatting Tag Usage

These tags should be used sparingly. And what we mean by that is that you should only use them to bold or italicize one or two words in your elements at a time. If you wish to bold an entire paragraph a better solution would involve Cascading Style Sheets, and you should consult how to do that in our CSS Tutorial. Ultimately the decision is yours, the web developer. Being a voice of experience, keep the use of these tags quick and sparse.