Posted by Ed Seedhouse on 02/16/07 17:36

On Fri, 16 Feb 2007 19:59:35 +1300, Helpful Harry
<helpful_harry@nom.de.plume.com> wrote:

>> "markup language" is not the same as "page description language".
>>
>> HTML markup doesn't specify *how* information is to be displayed, but
>> the relationships between information components.
>
>Since when is [strong] a "relationship between information
>components"?!?!? It's telling the browser that the following text
>shoulld be rendered in bold until it finds a corresponding [/strong]
>tag.

No it is not. A <strong></strong> element tells the browser that the
text within it is to be given a "strong emphasis". How this is done is
up to the browser and modifiable with CSS without affecting the semantic
meaingn of the element.

A <b></b> element is presentational, telling the browser to render in
bold face, and that is why it is depreciated in new versions of html in
favour of the semantic <strong></strong>. The fact that most browsers
display strong text in boldface is entirely beside the point. "Bold"
has little meaning to a speaking browser, while "strong" still has it's
original meaning.

>HTML code simply tells a browser how to render a page on-screen.

No it doesn't, not in it's modern form. It tells the browser the
meaning or structure of the content, and says nothing at all about how
this is to be presented. That's what CSS is for.

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