I like the idea of the third point: don't use them because of how the browser represents the tags, but because of their meaning. A quick note on it though, <b> and <i> changed semantics and they don't mean the same thing anymore:
<i> stands for idiomatic text (and not for italics). It should be used with idiomatic text, technical terms, taxonomical designations, etc.
Browsers still represent them as bold and italics (which I guess makes sense for "backward compatibility"), but they are no longer presentational elements. They have a meaning.
WCAG seems to say use semantic markup for special text. <b> and <i> qualify as semantic markup in HTML5. Therefore I see no reason not to use those tags.
But it actually matters what they mean. It matters as part of the HTML standard and it matters for accessibility too. And that's the point of my comment: there are cases in which you will use <b> and <i> because they provide the right meaning. For example, if you use <em> for an idiomatic or technical term, you are using the wrong semantic tag. It should be <i> instead. And if you use <i> just to have something in italics, then yes, that's a wrong use of <i>.
I like the idea of the third point: don't use them because of how the browser represents the tags, but because of their meaning. A quick note on it though,
<b>and<i>changed semantics and they don't mean the same thing anymore:<b>is for bringing attention to the element (instead of boldface), which means that it is has some relative importance within the sentence, but it doesn't imply seriousness and urgency as<strong>does.<i>stands for idiomatic text (and not for italics). It should be used with idiomatic text, technical terms, taxonomical designations, etc.Browsers still represent them as bold and italics (which I guess makes sense for "backward compatibility"), but they are no longer presentational elements. They have a meaning.
Oh I see. Thanks for the correction. Cheers !
Doesn't matter what
<b>and<i>means. The WCAG accessibilty standard tells you to use<strong>and<em>for assistive technology.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Techniques/html/H49
WCAG seems to say use semantic markup for special text.
<b>and<i>qualify as semantic markup in HTML5. Therefore I see no reason not to use those tags.But it actually matters what they mean. It matters as part of the HTML standard and it matters for accessibility too. And that's the point of my comment: there are cases in which you will use
<b>and<i>because they provide the right meaning. For example, if you use<em>for an idiomatic or technical term, you are using the wrong semantic tag. It should be<i>instead. And if you use<i>just to have something in italics, then yes, that's a wrong use of<i>.OMG I am so sorry, I read this wrong the whole time...