: The Idiomatic Text element - HTML | MDN (original) (raw)

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<p>I looked at it and thought <i>This can't be real!</i></p>

<p>
  <i>Musa</i> is one of two or three genera in the family <i>Musaceae</i>; it
  includes bananas and plantains.
</p>

<p>
  The term <i>bandwidth</i> describes the measure of how much information can
  pass through a data connection in a given amount of time.
</p>

i {
  /* Add your styles here */
}

Attributes

This element only includes the global attributes.

Usage notes

• Use the <i> element for text that is set off from the normal prose for readability reasons. This would be a range of text with different semantic meaning than the surrounding text. Among the use cases for the <i> element are spans of text representing a different quality or mode of text, such as:
  • Alternative voice or mood
  • Taxonomic designations (such as the genus and species "Homo sapiens")
  • Idiomatic terms from another language (such as "et cetera"); these should include the lang attribute to identify the language
  • Technical terms
  • Transliterations
  • Thoughts (such as "She wondered, What is this writer talking about, anyway?")
  • Ship or vessel names in Western writing systems (such as "They searched the docks for the Empress of the Galaxy, the ship to which they were assigned.")
• In earlier versions of the HTML specification, the <i> element was merely a presentational element used to display text in italics, much like the <b> element was used to display text in bold letters. This is no longer true, as these tags now define semantics rather than typographic appearance. A browser will typically still display the contents of the <i> element in italic type, but is, by definition, no longer required to do so. To display text in italic type, authors should use the CSS font-style property.
• Be sure the text in question is not actually more appropriately marked up with another element.
  • Use to indicate stress emphasis.
  • Use to indicate importance, seriousness, or urgency.
  • Use to indicate relevance.
  • Use to mark up the name of a work, such as a book, play, or song.
  • Use to mark up the defining instance of a term.

Examples

This example demonstrates using the <i> element to mark text that is in another language.

<p>
  The Latin phrase <i lang="la">Veni, vidi, vici</i> is often mentioned in
  music, art, and literature.
</p>

Result

Technical summary

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Other italicized elements: , , ,