HTML & CSS: The Good Parts

Adding Semantic Value with Inline Elements

In addition to links, there are a number of other inline elements that can lend nuances of meaning to content. These elements are summarized in Table 8-1.

Table 8-1. A survey of HTML 4 inline elements

Element	Long name	“Presentation” equivalent	Notes
em	emphasis	i, u
strong	strong emphasis	b
cite	source citation	i	Applied to titles of books, periodicals, broadcast program series, and long form audio/visual media, but not to other proper names
code	code passage	tt	cf. kbd, samp
kbd	user-supplied keyboard input	tt
samp	program output sample	tt	According to the HTML 4.01 specification, distinguished from code by the fact that code content implies executability, while samp refers to program output
abbr	abbreviation	[none]
acronym	acronym	[none]	Acronyms and abbreviations expand in mutually exclusive ways; acronyms are formatted differently from one country to the next
sup	superscript	[none]	Best assigned an infinitesimal line-height value
sub	subscript	[none]
ins	insertion	[none]	Styled with an underline, by default
del	deletion	strike	Best followed by content within ins, in cases where “backspace and overstrike” is implied
q	inline quote	[none]	Behavior varies by user agent; prefer blockquote for long quoted passages
var	variable; irrational number	i	E.g., 2πr, (sin2θ + cos2θ) = 1
dfn	definition	i and em (in context)	Marks up terms that are presented inline to their definition, as a complement to definition lists (Definition Lists); especially effective when assigned an id value for the purpose ...