The Web Design Group

B - Bold Text

Syntax <B>...</B>
Attribute Specifications
Contents Inline elements
Contained in Inline elements, block-level elements

The B element suggests that text be rendered as bold text. In most cases, use of a phrase element such as STRONG is more appropriate since such elements express the meaning of the text more clearly.

The B element is a suitable choice for marking a structure for which no phrase element exists. For example, vectors in mathematics have no structural element in HTML 4.0, but bold text is often an appropriate visual rendering:

If two vectors <B CLASS=vector>v</B> and <B CLASS=vector>w</B> are orthogonal, we write <B CLASS=vector>v</B> &perp; <B CLASS=vector>w</B>.

Note the use of the CLASS attribute to add structural significance to the B elements. This allows greater flexibility when applying style sheets to different kinds of bold text.

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