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

Hi Adam, 
 
According to WCAG H49, ``Most screen readers do not provide automatic
notification about em, strong, b, or i``. 
ref. http://www.w3.org/TR/2012/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20120103/H49
 
However, I am not sure if this fact will be changed with the HTML 5
specification. 
 
Rabab
>>> Adam Powell <adam@adaminfinitum.com> 2013-10-04 2:36 AM >>>
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
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).)