Physical tagsWhat are physical tags?In contrast to logical tags, physical tags are used specifically to describe an item's physical appearance. Physical tags are used when the important thing is what an item looks like -- not what it is. Browsers that can't display a physical tag, such as the I tag for italics, will just ignore the tag. Be aware of this. If ignoring the tag will cause the meaning of the item to change, then you should be using a logical tag, instead. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. Read the following three sentences aloud: Are you going to Tacoma with him? Are you going to Tacoma with him? Are you going to Tacoma with him? You probably read the sentence in three different ways, because of the different emphasis in each sentence. The first sentence was fairly neutral. When reading the second sentence, you emphasized the word "Tacoma," as if you were asking "Why would you go to Tacoma?" When reading the third sentence, you emphasized the word "him," as if you were asking "Why on earth would you go anywhere with that guy?" (And look, I just used emphasis again.) Each one of those sentences had a different meaning, but the exact same words. In this case, the emphasis is an important part of the meaning, so you should use the logical tag, EM, instead of the physical tag, I. If you use the physical italics tag, I, then browsers that can't show italics will ignore the tag -- and in those browsers, those three sentences would read like this: Are you going to Tacoma with him? Are you going to Tacoma with him? Are you going to Tacoma with him? Now all three sentences are the same, and the emphasis has been lost. This makes your page less usable and harder to understand. Some examples of physical tagsBoldThe bold tag, B, is used to make text boldface. For example, in the sentence: My name is Wendi. ...you can see that the word "Wendi" is in boldface. Here's an example of the code for the bold tag.
ItalicsThe italics tag, I, is used to italicize text. For example: Think Different. Here's an example of the code for the italic tag.
TeletypeThe teletype tag, TT, is used to display text that looks like it came from a typewriter, a telegram, or a teletype -- that is, monospaced. (A teletype was the machine that many newspapers and radio stations used to have. Incoming news stories would come in on the teletype every so often and print out on a roll of paper. Then you'd tear the story off the roll and read it on the air or typeset it for the newspaper. These were used quite recently -- when I interned at KJR AM 950 in 1982, they had a teletype. I think most teletypes have been replaced by satellite and Internet feeds.) Here's an example of teletype: I picked up the telegram and read the notice. Please come home, it said. Here's an example of the code for the teletype tag.
BigThe big tag, BIG, makes text a bit bigger than the default size. For example: He stood up tall and looked very, very big. Here's an example of the code for the big tag.
SmallThe small tag, SMALL, makes text a bit smaller than the default size, as you might expect. For example: She heard the squeaking of a very tiny mouse. Here's an example of the code for the small tag.
SubscriptThe subscript tag, SUB, makes text a bit smaller than the default size and drops the baseline. For example: The floor was uneven in the living room. Here's an example of the code for the subscript tag.
SuperscriptThe superscript tag, SUP, makes text a bit smaller than the default size and raises the baseline. This can be useful for placing trademark signs, footmark numbers, etc. For example: SPAMtm Here's an example of the code for the subscript tag.
As we learn each tag through the rest of the quarter, try to figure out which tags are logical and which are physical. |