HTML <b> Tag for Bold Text

 

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

❰b❱ is for bold text without emphasis. ❰b❱ description, syntax, usage, attributes and examples. HTML-5.com is a great guide for web developers. TV Series & Actors and Actresses. Follow TV Series and HTML 5 on Google+.

ATTENTION: THIS PAGE IS Valid HTML 5 AND IS BEST VIEWED WITH HTML 5 - Please upgrade your browser or download one of the HTML 5 compatible browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Chrome, Opera or IE 9 (March 14, 2011 or later). For more information see HTML 5 browsers.

If you find this helpful, please click the Google +1 Button to the left, if it is white, to make it turn blue or red. Thank you! (It also helps find this page again more easily.)

PDF mobile

The <b> Tag in HTML 5

The <b> tag indicates that a bold font should be used to display the content. Text in bold is not necessarily considered to have any increased importance. The b element is one of the phrase elements in HTML.

Alternatives to the <b> tag for bold text

The <strong> tag can also be used to display text in bold, but also implies increased importance of the text.

back to top

<b> Bold Tag Syntax

Rules for coding HTML b elements
<body>
   ...
   ... phrasing content expected ...<b>... phrasing content ...</b>...
   ...
</body>
Rules for coding HTML b elements

Make sure you understand the difference between a tag and element and are familiar with the definitions of namespace and other HTML terms.

  1. Code the b element for bold text where phrasing content is expected.
  2. Begin the b element with a starting <b> tag. The element name uses lower case letters and should be in the HTML namespace, which it will pick up automatically from the xmlns attribute on the <html> tag.
  3. Include any HTML global attributes on the <b> tag as appropriate.
  4. Inside the b element, between the starting <b> tag and the ending </b> tag, code the inner HTML phrasing content with the text that is to appear in bold.
  5. End the b element with a matching </b> closing tag.
Content Model
Content of the b element

The content of the b element can include HTML comments, text content and only those HTML tags that can be used in phrasing content.

back to top

<b> Tag Attributes

Attributes of the <b> tag
global attributes The only attributes that can be coded on the <cite> tag are the common HTML attributes.

back to top

<b> Bold Tag Examples

Examples of the b tag in HTML 5
Combining bold with other styles

If you try to underline bold text by coding the style attribute on the <b> tag, the underline will also be bold:

<b style="text-decoration: underline">This Bold Text Has A Bold Underline Style Also</b>
This Bold Text Has A Bold Underline Style Also

To create bold text without a bold underline, the underline style must be coded on a separate element. With two different elements, the underline color can also be set independently of the text color.

<span style="text-decoration: underline; color: red">
   <b style="color: black">This Bold Text Has A Thin Red Underline Style</b>
</span>
This Bold Text Has A Thin Red Underline Style

The style property is coded on the <b> tag to change the text color back to black since otherwise it would inherit the red color from the parent <span> tag.

back to top

Changes in HTML 5 - <b> Tag

What's new in HTML 5
Differences between HTML 5 and earlier versions of HTML

The 2000-2010 Recommendations from the W3C HTML Working Group defined the HTML namespace for the b element type name along with the names of all HTML element types. In older (pre-2000) versions of HTML, element type names were not associated with a namespace.

back to top

Valid HTML 5