The HTML phrase tags have been desicolgned for specific purposes, though they are displayed in a similar way as other basic tags like <b>, <i>, <pre>, and <tt>, you have seen in previous chapter. This chapter will take you through all the important phrase tags, so let’s start seeing them one by one.
Emphasized Text
Anything that appears within <em>…</em> element is displayed as emphasized text.
Example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Emphasized Text Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>The following word uses an <em>emphasized</em> typeface.</p>
</body>
</html>
Output:
The following word uses an emphasized typeface.
Marked Text
Anything that appears with-in <mark>…</mark> element, is displayed as marked with yellow ink.
Example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Marked Text Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>The following word has been <mark>marked</mark> with yellow</p>
</body>
</html>
Output:
Strong Text
Anything that appears within <strong>…</strong> element is displayed as important text.
Example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Strong Text Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>The following word uses a <strong>strong</strong> typeface.</p>
</body>
</html>
Output:
The following word uses a strong typeface.
Text Abbreviation
You can abbreviate a text by putting it inside opening <abbr> and closing </abbr> tags. If present, the title attribute must contain this full description and nothing else.
Example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Text Abbreviation</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>My best friend's name is <abbr title = "Abhishek">Abhy</abbr>.</p>
</body>
</html>
Output:
My best friend's name is Abhy.
Acronym Element
The <acronym> element allows you to indicate that the text between <acronym> and </acronym> tags is an acronym.
At present, the major browsers do not change the appearance of the content of the <acronym> element.
Example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Acronym Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>This chapter covers marking up text in <acronym>XHTML</acronym>.</p>
</body>
</html>
Output:
This chapter covers marking up text in XHTML.
Text Direction
The <bdo>…</bdo> element stands for Bi-Directional Override and it is used to override the current text direction.
Example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Text Direction Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>This text will go left to right.</p>
<p><bdo dir = "rtl">This text will go right to left.</bdo></p>
</body>
</html>
Output:
Special Terms
The <dfn>…</dfn> element (or HTML Definition Element) allows you to specify that you are introducing a special term. It’s usage is similar to italic words in the midst of a paragraph.
Typically, you would use the <dfn> element the first time you introduce a key term. Most recent browsers render the content of a <dfn> element in an italic font.
Example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Special Terms Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>The following word is a <dfn>special</dfn> term.</p>
</body>
</html>
Output:
The following word is a special term.
Quoting Text
When you want to quote a passage from another source, you should put it in between <blockquote>…</blockquote> tags.
Text inside a <blockquote> element is usually indented from the left and right edges of the surrounding text, and sometimes uses an italicized font.
Example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Blockquote Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>The following description of XHTML is taken from the W3C Web site:</p>
<blockquote>XHTML 1.0 is the W3C's first Recommendation for XHTML,following on
from earlier work on HTML 4.01, HTML 4.0, HTML 3.2 and HTML 2.0.</blockquote>
</body>
</html>
Output:
Short Quotations
The <q>…</q> element is used when you want to add a double quote within a sentence.
Example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Double Quote Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>Amit is in Spain, <q>I think I am wrong</q>.</p>
</body>
</html>
Output:
Amit is in Spain,I think I am wrong.
Text Citations
If you are quoting a text, you can indicate the source placing it between an opening <cite> tag and closing </cite> tag
As you would expect in a print publication, the content of the <cite> element is rendered in italicized text by default.
Example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Citations Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>This HTML tutorial is derived from <cite>W3 Standard for HTML</cite>.</p>
</body>
</html>
Output:
This HTML tutorial is derived from W3 Standard for HTML.
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