The first set of text elements that you will look at have been around in HTML for a while. Some of these elements represented text formatting in the past, but as HTML has evolved, the separation of presentation from broader semantics has meant that they now have more generalized significance.

The b element

The b element is used to offset a span of text without indicating any extra emphasis or importance. The examples given in the HTML5 specification are keywords in a document abstract and product names in a review. The b element is very simple: content contained between the start and end tags is offset from the surrounding content. You would usually do this by showing the content in bold, but you can use CSS to change the style applied to b elements. Below is the b element in use.