| Syntax | <i>...</i> |
|---|---|
| Attribute Specifications | |
| Contents | Inline elements |
| Contained in | Inline elements, block-level elements |
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 XHTML 1.0, 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.
XHTML 1.0 Reference ~ Elements by Function ~ Elements Alphabetically
This document is a modification of Liam Quinn's HTML 4.0 Reference to describe XHTML 1.0. The modifications were done by Greg Baker. Copyright © 1998-2004 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/).