What Are HTML Text Formatting Tags?
HTML provides special tags to format text — like making it bold,
italic, or underlined. These tags help you emphasize content
and make web pages more readable and styled.
Common HTML Text Formatting Tags
| Tag |
Purpose |
Example Text |
| <b> |
Bold (non-important) |
Bold |
| <strong> |
Bold (important) |
Strong emphasis |
| <i> |
Italic (non-important) |
Italic |
| <em> |
Italic (important) |
Emphasis |
| <u> |
Underline |
<u>Underline</u> |
| <mark> |
Highlight |
<mark>Marked</mark> |
| <small> |
Smaller text |
<small>Small</small> |
| <del> |
Deleted (strikethrough) |
<del>Deleted</del> |
| <ins> |
Inserted (underline) |
<ins>Inserted</ins> |
| <sub> |
Subscript |
H<sub>2</sub>O |
| <sup> |
Superscript |
x<sup>2</sup> |
Example 1: Bold Text Using <b> and
<strong></strong>
<p>This is <b>bold text</b>.</p>
<p>This is <strong>important bold text</strong>.</p>
Example 2: Italic Text Using <i> and <em></em>
<p>This is <i>italic text</i>.</p>
<p>This is <em>emphasized text</em>.</p>
Example 3: Underline Text
<p>This is <u>underlined text</u>.</p>
Example 4: Highlighted Text Using <mark>
<p>This is a <mark>highlighted word</mark>.</p>
Example 5: Strikethrough Using <del>, Insertion Using
<ins></ins>
<p>This item was <del>$20</del> now <ins>$10</ins>.</p>
Example 6: Subscript and Superscript
<p>Water formula: H<sub>2</sub>O</p>
<p>Math: x<sup>2</sup> + y<sup>2</sup></p>
Summary of HTML Text Formatting Tags
| Tag |
Meaning |
Visual Effect |
| <b> |
Bold (no extra meaning) |
Bold |
| <strong> |
Bold (semantic) |
Bold + importance |
| <i> |
Italic (no extra meaning) |
Italic |
| <em> |
Emphasized (semantic) |
Italic + importance |
| <u> |
Underlined |
Underline |
| <mark> |
Highlight |
Highlight (yellow) |
| <del> |
Deleted/Strikethrough |
Strikethrough |
| <ins> |
Inserted (often underlined) |
Underline (semantic) |
| <sub> |
Subscript |
Lowered text (e.g., H₂O) |
| <sup> |
Superscript |
Raised text (e.g., x²) |