• Registered: 2006-10-19
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Topic: [b] and [i] becoming <strong> and <em>

is something I object to. It seems like an instance of hypercorrectness -- as if saying "<b> and <i> are deprecated in favour of <strong> and <em>", which is not true. Yes, they often correspond, but the point of the latter tags is to have some semantic value, and to be styled according to their relevant emphasis. And, more importantly, they don't necessarily need to be styled in bold or italic, and on the other hand, bold and italic aren't only used for emphasis. [b] and [i] are purely presentational, implying absolutely nothing about the meaning of the contents, only an instruction on how to display it.

It seems there are two more logical possible options:

- Just have the BBCode tags become <b> and <i>. Seems pretty intuitive.
- Do the above, but also add [em] and [strong] tags for people who do want to use the semantic tags.

<b> and <i> are still allowed even in HTML 5 and XHTML 1.1, in case people ever start actually using those.

P.S. I know I'm probably the only one who cares about this, but oh well. Consider it. tongue

  • Smartys
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Re: [b] and [i] becoming <strong> and <em>

http://punbb.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=11592
So I guess this is where Paul steps in and gives us his expertise on the matter tongue

3 Reply by Paul

  • Paul
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  • Registered: 2003-08-13
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Re: [b] and [i] becoming <strong> and <em>

I have considered it. Most of the time the reason for making something bold or italic is to emphasize it or at least set it apart from the surronding text. That means semantically an em or strong tag is appropriate. The only time  <b> or <i> would be appropriate is if you want bold or italic purely for random decoration which is somewhat pointless.  However, I agree that the best thing would be to have strong and em bbcode tags as well which would cover all possibilities.

While we are at it, I woulld also like a [del] tag for strikethrough text and an [ins] tag to go with it.

4 Reply by Kyle (edited by Kyle 2008-03-03 10:02)

  • Kyle
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Re: [b] and [i] becoming <strong> and <em>

<b>, <i> and <tt> are gone in XHTML 2.0.

b, i, s, etc really don't make sense if the point is to describe the document which is why they're deprecated.

  • Registered: 2008-01-31
  • Posts: 19

Re: [b] and [i] becoming <strong> and <em>

Paul wrote:

The only time  <b> or <i> would be appropriate is if you want bold or italic purely for random decoration which is somewhat pointless.

Why don't you write decorational-only styles via CSS?
It's better solution and doesn't require an extra element in HTML.

6 Reply by Paul

  • Paul
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Re: [b] and [i] becoming <strong> and <em>

Taimar wrote:
Paul wrote:

The only time  <b> or <i> would be appropriate is if you want bold or italic purely for random decoration which is somewhat pointless.

Why don't you write decorational-only styles via CSS?
It's better solution and doesn't require an extra element in HTML.

Generally you might but we are taking about markup not css. I still can't think of any good reason to make a few words in the middle of a sentence bold or italic othrer than to give than to suggest they are somehow different from the surrounding text.

  • Registered: 2008-01-31
  • Posts: 19

Re: [b] and [i] becoming <strong> and <em>

Paul wrote:

I still can't think of any good reason to make a few words in the middle of a sentence bold or italic othrer than to give than to suggest they are somehow different from the surrounding text.

Yes, but then you do want to emphasize them, so EM (emphasis) or STRONG (stronger emphasis) elements are appropriate.

  • From: France
  • Registered: 2004-11-06
  • Posts: 695

Re: [b] and [i] becoming <strong> and <em>

It's all about the common usage. 99.999999% of the time, when someone use b or i, they meant an emphasis.

On the other hand, doubling the number of tag, is confusing for the average user. Is one really wanted to add another tags, I think cite would be much more needed and appropriate for example.

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9 Reply by Lucas Malor (edited by Lucas Malor 2008-03-04 14:30)

  • Registered: 2007-09-25
  • Posts: 76

Re: [b] and [i] becoming <strong> and <em>

I agree with you, Jérémie. [b ] and [i ] tags are widely used. So PunBB should convert [b ] and [i ] tags to [strong ]  and [em ]. IMHO is quite useless. Furthermore, I often use italic text for quotes.

On the other hand, I think it's more correct to add a "bold" and "italic" class to CSS.

Paul wrote:

I would also like a [del] tag for strikethrough text and an [ins] tag to go with it.

I agree for [del ], very useful if you want to correct without delete the previous text. But [ins ]... hmm

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