Re: <i>, <em> and font-style:italic in HTML 5

Hi Rabab,
  Good question, I have a related follow up for the group:

  Just as *i* and *em* have been given complementary definitions, so have
*b* and *strong* (definitions in the same document referenced previously in
this thread).

The b<http://www.w3.org/TR/2012/CR-html5-20121217/text-level-semantics.html#the-b-element>
>  element represents<http://www.w3.org/TR/2012/CR-html5-20121217/rendering.html#represents> a
> span of text to which attention is being drawn for utilitarian purposes
> without conveying any extra importance and with no implication of an
> alternate voice or mood, such as key words in a document abstract, product
> names in a review…


Does this mean that when/if this becomes a specification (worded this way,
I mean), a compliant user agent e.g. a screenreader would read *b* with no
change in tone or voice?

Just curious?​​


Adam Powell
Learn more at my website:* *Adam Infinitum <http://www.adaminfinitum.com>



On Tue, Sep 24, 2013 at 1:36 AM, David Woolley
<forums@david-woolley.me.uk>wrote:

> On 23/09/13 20:55, Rabab Gomaa wrote:
>
>  http://www.w3.org/TR/2012/CR-**html5-20121217/text-level-**
>> semantics.html#the-em-element<http://www.w3.org/TR/2012/CR-html5-20121217/text-level-semantics.html#the-em-element>
>> The *i *element represents a span of text in an alternate voice or mood.
>> The *em* element represents stress emphasis of its contents.
>> I believe a class with *style="font-style:italic" *would be like using
>> an *i* element to alternate voice or mood *without *emphasis.
>>
>
> If you re talking about how to style "i", that depends on the context and
> the cultural expectations of the users.
>
> However, if you are not talking about how to style "i" elements, style on
> its own should never be used as an alternative to appropriate semantic
> markup, for any reason except purely decorative ones.
>
> (Of course "i" is a cop out.  It is really entirely presentational, but,
> because so widely used, had to be justified by giving it a semantic
> distinction from "em" (and any of the other elements typically rendered in
> italics).)
>
>
>