B, I (Re: HTML 4.0 draft available)

scottm@danielson.co.uk (Scott Matthewman) wrote:
[...]
> > If <U> is deprecated, why isn't <TT>, <XMP>, <SAMP>, <MENU>, <DIR>, ...?
[...]

> Similarly, I think B and I should be deprecated. STRONG and EM are
> preferable.

I *do* share the view, that tags that are for layout *only* should
be deprecated. But I don't think, that <B>, and especially <I>
fall into this cahegory.

I'll try to explain:

<I></I> is not only used for emphasis, but as well for singling
out things like Latin names of species. And: at least in German
common usage <I></I> is used to markup terms that have their 
origin in foreign languages and are not really incorporated into
German. I'll spare you the German examples [:-)]. But I'll try to 
give you annother example. Averroes (Ibn Rushd) was to the Latin
middle ages *the* commentator of Aristotle (<latin>commentator
</latin>). Now consider the following sentence: "The <I>commentator
</I> was the only commentator Thomas Aquinas used for his
knowledge on Alexander of Aphrodisisas": I don't now how to
preserve this sentence without the use of <I></I>. <STRONG>
</STRONG> certainly wouldn't be an alternative ... . And
having the sentence begin with "<STRONG>The</STRONG>" whould
mean a shift of emphasis even in *that* sentence.

Now to <B></B>: Yes, I agree, we could do without it, *if*
there were a way to force browsers *not* to render it in
italics. As soon as all current browsers do handle style-
sheets I'd no longer have a use for it. But till that time
has come, I'd like to have an instrument for emphasis that
cannot be rendered as <I></I> (which, as I said, in some
cases means more than only optical markup).

So I'd say: It's not yet time to deprecate <B></B>, and
<I></I> should remain an element of HTML.

Regards

Heinrich C. Kuhn

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Received on Wednesday, 9 July 1997 09:43:32 UTC