HTML & CSS · Text & Typography · Lesson 4 of 25
Text Formatting Tags
Concept
Text Formatting Tags
strong, em, br, and span let you emphasize or format inline text without breaking the flow of a paragraph.
strong and em carry semantic meaning (importance and emphasis), which is why screen readers announce them differently — use CSS font-weight or font-style instead if you only want the visual look without the meaning.
By the end of this lesson
- Explain the core idea behind Text Formatting Tags.
- Predict output before running a change.
- Test one realistic and one unusual input.
- Use the result to make the next decision.
How to study this page
- 1. Read one concept.
- 2. Change the example.
- 3. Run, compare, and explain.
- 4. Complete the challenge below.
Syntax
<strong>important text</strong>
<em>emphasized text</em>
<span>generic inline text</span>ExampleRunnable
<p>This is <strong>important</strong> and this is <em>emphasized</em>.</p>A line break vs a new paragraph
<p>Line one<br />Line two</p>
<p>A separate paragraph</p>Note: br forces a line break inside the same paragraph, while a new <p> starts an entirely separate block with its own spacing.
Self-check before continuing
Without looking at the example, describe what changes when you modify one input in Text Formatting Tags. Then reopen the editor and prove your explanation with a small test.
You are ready to continue when you can predict, test, and explain the result.
Your turn
Write a paragraph using both strong and em tags at least once each.
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Console