HTML Character Sets HTML ASCII HTML ISO-8859-1 HTML Symbols HTML URL Encode HTML Lang Codes HTTP Messages HTTP Methods Keyboard Shortcuts ChineseChinese Version HTML Text Formatting « Previous Next Chapter » HTML Text Formatting This text is bold This text is italic This is computer output This is subscript and superscript Try it yourself » HTML Formatting Tags HTML uses tags like and for formatting output, like bold or italic text. These HTML tags are called formatting tags (look at the bottom of this page for a complete reference). Remark Often renders as , and renders as . However, there is a difference in the meaning of these tags: or defines bold or italic text only. or means that you want the text to be rendered in a way that the user understands as "important". Today, all major browsers render strong as bold and em as italics. However, if a browser one day wants to make a text highlighted with the strong feature, it might be cursive for example and not bold! Examples Try it Yourself - Examples Text formatting How to format text in an HTML document. Preformatted text How to control the line breaks and spaces with the pre tag. "Computer output" tags How different "computer output" tags will be displayed. Address How to define contact information for the author/owner of an HTML document. Abbreviations and acronyms How to handle abbreviations and acronyms. Text direction How to change the text direction. Quotations How to handle long and short quotations. Deleted and inserted text How to mark deleted and inserted text. HTML Text Formatting Tags Tag Description Defines bold text Defines emphasized text Defines a part of text in an alternate voice or mood Defines smaller text Defines important text Defines subscripted text Defines superscripted text Defines inserted text Defines deleted text HTML "Computer Output" Tags Tag Description Defines computer code text Defines keyboard text Defines sample computer code Defines a variable

 	Defines preformatted text
HTML Citations, Quotations, and Definition Tags
Tag 	Description
 	Defines an abbreviation or acronym
 	Defines contact information for the author/owner of a document
 	Defines the text direction
 	Defines a section that is quoted from another source
 	Defines an inline (short) quotation
 	Defines the title of a work
 	Defines a definition term