I - Italic Text

The I element suggests that text be rendered as italic text. In most cases, use of a phrase element such as EM, DFN, VAR, or CITE is more appropriate since these elements express the meaning of the text more clearly.

The I element is a suitable choice for marking a structure for which no phrase element exists. For example, foreign phrases and taxonomic names have no structural element in HTML 4.0, but italic text is often an appropriate visual rendering:

<H1><I LANG=fr>Chacun son goût !</I></H1>
<P>Some people prefer dogs--<I CLASS=species>Canis familiaris</I>--while others are eternal lovers of cats--<I CLASS=species>Felis cattus</I>.

Note the use of the CLASS and LANG attributes to add structural significance to the I elements. This allows greater flexibility when applying style sheets to different kinds of italic text.

More Information

• I in W3C HTML 4.0 Recommendation
• I in W3C HTML 3.2 Recommendation
• I in HTML 2.0 Standard
• I in WDG HTML 3.2 Reference
• I in Learning HTML 3.2 by Examples

Copyright © 1998 by Liam Quinn. This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, v1.0 or later (the latest version is presently available at http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/).