HTML Text Code: Text Formatting Tags

Browser Support

The text formatting samples below shows you all the HTML text formatting elements in one handy place.

Each of these elements can be stylized using CSS. The examples shown below represent the default display by whatever browser you're using.

Note that the default display for some elements can be different from one browser brand to another, or from version to version. You may wish to use CSS to set the display style so it's consistent across all user agents.

HTML Phrase Elements

Element Code	Display Sample
<em>...</em>	Emphasized Text
<strong>...</strong>	Strong Text
<dfn>...</dfn>	Definition Text
<code>...</code>	`Code Text`
<samp>...</samp>	`Sample Text`
<kbd>...</kbd>	`Keyboard Text`
<var>...</var>	`Variable Text`
<cite>...</cite>	Citation Text
<abbr>...</abbr>	Abbreviation Text
<acronym>...</acronym>	Acronym Text

Font Style Elements

Element Code	Display Sample
<tt>...</tt>	`Teletype Text`
<i>...</i>	Italic Text
<b>...</b>	Bold Text
<big>...</big>	Big Text
<small>...</small>	Small Text
<strike>...</strike>	Deprecated - Use CSS
<s>...</s>	Deprecated - Use CSS
<u>...</u>	Deprecated - Use CSS

Heading Elements

Element Code	Display Sample
<h1>...</h1>
<h2>...</h2>
<h3>...</h3>
<h4>...</h4>
<h5>...</h5>
<h6>...</h6>

Quote and Blockquote Elements

Quote Element: The <q> element is for use when quoting short passages of text. All it does in most browsers is insert quotation marks at the beginning and end of the quoted passage.
Blockquote Element: The <blockquote> element is for use when quoting a large block of text. In most browsers it just created a margin on the left and right sides of the blockquote text. Using CSS you can pretty it up as you like.

If you want your web site to rank high in the search engines . . . what are you going to do to get it there? Check out my search engine optmization guide, SEO for YOU: Search Engine Optimization for Ordinary Everyday People!

Check out SEO for YOU now!

Almost a Newsletter

Subscribe today for exclusive website design tutorials and grab some free gifts to boot! Learn more, or subcribe below:

Did you know...

The member's site has about 100 standards compliant HTML and CSS tutorials, 31 handy reference charts, reprintable content, web graphics, exclusive fonts, free software, free ebooks and more? All this for less than 9 cents a day! [ Details ]