<b>: The Bring Attention To element #
::: section-content
The <b>
HTML element is used to draw the reader's
attention to the element's contents, which are not otherwise granted
special importance. This was formerly known as the Boldface element, and
most browsers still draw the text in boldface. However, you should not
use <b>
for styling text or granting importance. If you wish to create
boldface text, you should use the CSS
font-weight
property. If you wish to indicate an element is of special importance,
you should use the
<strong>
element.
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Try it #
::: section-content ::: iframe ::: {.output-header .border-rounded-top}
HTML Demo: <b> #
Reset :::
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::: {#warning-mathml-not-supported .warning-container .hidden} ::: warning The interactive example cannot be shown because MathML is not supported by your browser. ::: :::
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CSS
JavaScript :::
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The two most popular science courses offered by the school are chemistry (the study of chemicals and the composition of substances) and physics (the study of the nature and properties of matter and energy).
::: :::::: {#css-panel .section .hidden tabindex=“0” role=“tabpanel” aria-labelledby=“css” aria-hidden=“true”} ::: {#css-editor} /* stylelint-disable-next-line block-no-empty */ b { } ::: :::
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Output #
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::: {.section .console-container .hidden aria-hidden=“true”}
Console Output #
![] clear console
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::: {#html-output .output .editor-tabbed} %html-content% ::: ::: :::
Attributes #
::: section-content This element only includes the global attributes. :::
Usage notes #
::: section-content
- Use the
<b>
for cases like keywords in a summary, product names in a review, or other spans of text whose typical presentation would be boldfaced (but not including any special importance). - Do not confuse the
<b>
element with the<strong>
,<em>
, or<mark>
elements. The<strong>
element represents text of certain importance,<em>
puts some emphasis on the text and the<mark>
element represents text of certain relevance. The<b>
element doesn't convey such special semantic information; use it only when no others fit. - Similarly, do not mark titles and headings using the
<b>
element. For this purpose, use the h1 to h6 tags. Further, stylesheets can change the default style of these elements, with the result that they are not necessarily displayed in bold. - It is a good practice to use the
class
attribute on the<b>
element in order to convey additional semantic information as needed (for example<b class="lead">
for the first sentence in a paragraph). This makes it easier to manage multiple use cases of<b>
if your stylistic needs change, without the need to change all of its uses in the HTML. - Historically, the
<b>
element was meant to make text boldface. Styling information has been deprecated since HTML4, so the meaning of the<b>
element has been changed. - If there is no semantic purpose to using the
<b>
element, you should use the CSSfont-weight
property with the value"bold"
instead in order to make text bold. :::
Examples #
::: section-content ::: code-example [html]{.language-name}
<p>
This article describes several <b class="keywords">text-level</b> elements. It
explains their usage in an <b class="keywords">HTML</b> document.
</p>
Keywords are displayed with the default style of the
<b>element, likely in bold.</b>
::: :::
Result #
::: section-content ::: {#sect1 .code-example} ::: iframe ::: ::: :::
Technical summary #
::: section-content
Content categories | Flow content, phrasing content, palpable content. |
---|---|
Permitted content | Phrasing content. |
Tag omission | None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory. |
Permitted parents | Any element that accepts phrasing content. |
Implicit ARIA role | generic |
Permitted ARIA roles | Any |
DOM interface | HTMLElement |
Specifications #
::: _table #
Specification #
HTML Standard
[#
the-b-element]{.small}
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Browser compatibility #
::: _table #
Desktop Mobile
Chrome Edge Firefox Internet Opera Safari WebView Chrome Firefox Opera Safari Samsung
Explorer Android Android for Android on IOS Internet
Android
b
1 12 1 Yes 15 1 4.4 18 4 14 1 1.0
Before Firefox 4,
this element
implemented the
`HTMLSpanElement`
interface instead
of the standard
`HTMLElement`
interface.
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See also #
::: section-content
- Other elements conveying text-level semantics:
<a>
,<em>
,<strong>
,<small>
,<cite>
,<q>
,<dfn>
,<abbr>
,<time>
,<code>
,<var>
,<samp>
,<kbd>
,<sub>
,<sup>
,<i>
,<mark>
,<ruby>
,<rp>
,<rt>
,<bdo>
,<span>
,<br>
,<wbr>
. - Using <b> and <i> elements (W3C){target="_blank"} :::
::: _attribution
© 2005–2023 MDN contributors.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5
or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/b{._attribution-link}
:::