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	Â
strong	strong emphasis	b	Â
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	Â
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]	Â
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]	Â
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