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Browser Features and Behavior
Issue 4 August 2006 157
Physical Style
Physical tags are effectively the opposite of content-based tags. The text in a physical tag might
have no meaning whatsoever, outside what the designer intended. These tags show text in a
distinct style. Physical tags usually affect font style. Each physical style tag is shown with a brief
description and any physical effects the browser imposes.
● <b> indicates that the text appears in a bold font weight.
● <big> indicates that the text appears one point size larger than the current text.
● <i> indicates that the text appears in an italic font.
● <small> indicates that the text appears one point size smaller than the current text.
● <sub> indicates that the text appears as a subscript to the current text. The text is shown
one point size smaller.
● <sup> indicates that the text appears as a superscript to the current text. The text is shown
one point size smaller.
● <tt> indicates that the text appears as teletype text. The text is shown in a monospaced
typeface font.
Physical Spacing and Layout
Physical spacing and layout tags define the basic structure of a document. Headings,
paragraphs, tables and lists all provide some basic physical and logical layout to a page. Each
spacing and layout tag is shown with a brief description, and any unusual behavior is described.
● <p> indicates the start of a new paragraph. A blank line is inserted between previous text
and text following the <p> tag.
● <br> indicates to insert a breakpoint. A newline is inserted between previous text and text
following the <br> tag.
● <pre> indicates no formatting rules apply to the text that follows. This implies that no
wrapping will be applied to this text, which can result in adding a horizontal scrollbar to
view the text.
● <hr> indicates that a newline and a horizontal rule line should be inserted between the
previous text and text following the <hr> tag.
● <blockquote> indicates that the following text is a quote, and should be offset in some way.
The embedded text is shown with newlines before and after the text, with spacing to the
left and right. Within that “block” of text, normal wrapping rules apply.
● <q> indicates that the following text is a short quote, and should be shown in
double-quotes (according to documentation). This text appears as normal text, with no
physical identifying indications.
● <h1> - <h6> indicate heading sections. Each level is one point smaller than the previous
level, with <h1> being the largest.
The section titled Maintaining Context
on page 165 contains design guidelines for maintaining
user context.