Is there a semantic version of <u>?

Question

Hi,

In XHTML Strict, it seems that you're not allowed to use the <u> tag any more. Is there a semantic equivalent like there is for <b> and <i>? If not, is there any convention for how to markup underlined text in XHTML?

Thanks.

Answer 1

nope, you have to use css with text-decoration: underline

Answer 2

As far as I know not. But it is a bit questionable to see strong as an equivalent of b.

The purpose of the new tags is to decouple the format (bold) from the meaning (more visible text). The default apearance is bold, but you could create any style you like.

Answer 3

No. And there is no "semantic equivalent" to <b> or <i> either. It just so happens that <em> and <strong> (I assume those are what you had in mind) are implemented, by default, using bold and italics in most browsers.

Typographic stuff like underlining should be implemented using CSS, of course. Make a class and use a <span>.

Answer 4

In short - no.

<b> and <i> don't really have equivalents, either. It's all about the separation of content and appearance. The goal of XHTML strict is that the XHTML markup should be used to describe the structure of the content.

<em> tags are used to convey emphasis and <strong> tags are used to give strength to the content. It just so happens that the default style sheet in most browsers equates these to italic and bold respectively.

Having a direct equivalent for bold, italic and underline in XHTML would allow people to dictate the appearance of the content too closely. Ideally, you should think about why you want a piece of text to stand out, define that in the structure and then leave the CSS boys to decide how it should ultimately be rendered.

Answer 5

To have an equivalent, you have to define why you are underlining things in the first place. If it's just your preferred way of emphasizing text, then use <em> and change its style in CSS to be underlined instead of italic.

Answer 6

Your question is flawed - "underline" has no semantic meaning, no more than bold or italics do (strong and em have default styles, but they aren't hard wired to bold or italic in the way you think they are).

The correct approach here is to mark up with a <span class="highlight"> (or some other suitable keyword - I don't know your app) or just mark-up with and override the css for <em> if this is going to be a common enough occurrence.

Also: there is always a problem with using underline in any kind of emphasis manner since there is a built up convention that links are underlined. I would generally consider non-linked underlines a usability issue, even if actual links are not underlined. Think carefully that you really need this.

Answer 7

<em style="text-decoration: underline">