b (HTML element)
| Depr. | Empty | Version |
|---|---|---|
| No | No | HTML 2 |
| IE5.5+ | FF1+ | Saf1.3+ | Op9.2+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full | Full | Full | Full |
Example
A correct usage of the
b element is shown below. Here, it’s used to show that
the text is bold in appearance—it’s not signifying
importance:
<p>The MrBigStuff logo was a mixture of normal and bold
characters: "Mr <b>Big</b> Stuff"</p>
- Type
- inline element
- Contains
- inline elements only
- Contained by
- block-level elements, inline elements
Description
The b (short
for bold) element simply styles the text it encloses in a bold
typeface—assuming it’s not already presented a bold typeface—but offers no
semantic meaning about the contained text.
While the
b element isn’t deprecated—even in XHTML 1.1—its use is
declining, as in many cases it’s more appropriate to use either an
emphasis (em) or strong emphasis (strong) element instead.
The example above would appear as shown in Figure 1.
b in action
Use This For …
This element is used to mark
up text which needs to be stylistically offset from the normal prose in a
way that doesn’t confer any extra importance on that text. The
b element should, therefore, be used only as a last
resort when no other element is more appropriate. For the examples above,
it’s preferable to use a b element rather than a span with a bold style applied through
CSS.
Compatibility
| IE | 5.5 | Full |
|---|---|---|
| 6.0 | Full | |
| 7.0 | Full | |
| Firefox | 1.0 | Full |
| 1.5 | Full | |
| 2.0 | Full | |
| Safari | 1.3 | Full |
| 2.0 | Full | |
| 3.0 | Full | |
| Opera | 9.2 | Full |
| 9.5 | Full |
As one of the
earliest formatting elements, b has full browser
support.
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