Making Text Stand Out: Bold Styling in HTML
One of the most common ways to emphasize text on a webpage is to make it bold. This tutorial will cover the different methods available in HTML to achieve this, and explain when to use each one. We’ll cover both HTML tags and CSS styling techniques, and discuss semantic correctness.
Understanding the Goal
Before diving into the code, it’s important to consider why you want to make text bold. Is it a heading? Is it a key term? Is it simply for visual emphasis? The "why" informs which method is most appropriate. Simply applying bold styling without considering the underlying meaning can lead to less accessible and maintainable code.
Using HTML Tags for Bold Text
HTML provides two main tags for making text bold: <b> and <strong>.
-
<b>(Bold): This tag simply presents the enclosed text in a bold font. It’s a purely presentational element – it doesn’t inherently convey any semantic meaning. -
<strong>(Strong): This tag indicates that the enclosed text is of strong importance or seriousness. By default, browsers render<strong>text as bold, but its primary purpose is to convey semantic weight, not just visual style. Screen readers and other assistive technologies will recognize this tag and communicate the importance to the user.
Here’s how you would use these tags:
<p>This is some normal text.</p>
<p>This text is <b>bold</b> using the <b> tag.</p>
<p>This text is <strong>important</strong> using the <strong> tag.</p>
Styling with CSS
While the <b> and <strong> tags work, modern web development best practices often favor using CSS for styling, separating presentation from content. This approach provides greater flexibility and maintainability.
Inline Styles:
You can apply bold styling directly to an element using the style attribute:
<p style="font-weight: bold;">This text is bold using inline CSS.</p>
While this works, it’s generally not recommended for large projects as it mixes content and presentation.
Internal or External Stylesheets:
The preferred approach is to define CSS rules in an internal <style> tag within the <head> of your HTML document, or in a separate .css file linked to your HTML.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Bold Text Example</title>
<style>
.bold-text {
font-weight: bold;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p class="bold-text">This text is bold using a CSS class.</p>
</body>
</html>
In this example:
- We define a CSS class called
.bold-text. - We set the
font-weightproperty tobold. - We apply the class to the
<p>element using theclassattribute.
Choosing the Right Method
-
For purely visual emphasis without semantic meaning: Use CSS classes (the
.bold-textexample) to apply thefont-weight: bold;style. This gives you the most control and flexibility. -
To indicate strong importance or seriousness: Use the
<strong>tag. This is semantically correct and provides meaning to both users and assistive technologies. -
Avoid overusing
<b>: While it works, it doesn’t convey any meaning and can make your code less accessible.
By following these guidelines, you can effectively use bold styling in your HTML while maintaining semantic correctness and code quality.