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How to Bold in HTML: Unleashing the Power of Tags for Text Enhancement

By Cristian G. Guasch •  Updated: 09/18/23 •  8 min read

If you’re diving into the world of web design, you may be wondering how to make certain text elements stand out. I’m here to help you solve that puzzle! One effective way is by bolding text. It’s a simple yet powerful tool in HTML that can emphasize important pieces of information on your website.

HTML, or Hyper Text Markup Language, is the backbone of almost every site on the internet. Mastering it allows you to create and customize websites with precision and style. But don’t worry if it sounds intimidating—I’ll guide you through the basics.

We’re going to focus specifically on how to bold text in HTML. This technique will come in handy whether you want to highlight headlines, draw attention to key facts, or simply add visual variety to your content. Trust me—once you learn this skill, there’s no turning back!

Understanding HTML Basics

If you’ve ever dabbled in web development, then you’re probably familiar with HTML. It’s the backbone of any webpage, controlling its structure and content. But let’s dive a little deeper into it.

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. It might sound a bit intimidating at first blush, but don’t worry, it’s easier than it sounds! Essentially, HTML uses tags to define elements on the page – things like paragraphs, images, links and yes – even bold text!

So how does a tag work? Well, most tags come in pairs: an opening tag and a closing tag. They look something like this:

<tagname> Content goes here... </tagname>

The name of the tag goes inside angle brackets (< >). The closing tag is identical to the opening one, except for a forward slash (/) before the tag name.

Let’s see an example with paragraph tags (<p>):

<p> This is my paragraph! </p>

See how that works? Everything between these two tags becomes defined as a paragraph.

Now onto the star of our show today – how do we make text bold using HTML? We use something called the <strong> or <b> tag. Here’s what that looks like:

<strong>This will be bold!</strong>
<b>This will also be bold!</b>

Both tags render as BOLD text in your browser.

But wait! You might ask why there are two different ways to create bold text? Well, while they both appear visually similar (i.e., they both produce BOLD text), there’s actually an important distinction between them when it comes to semantics—how search engines interpret your website content—and accessibility for users utilizing assistive technologies such as screen readers.

While <b> purely changes visual presentation making your text visually bold without adding any special emphasis or importance from an accessibility or search engine perspective, <strong>, on the other hand, indicates that its contents have strong importance. For this reason, it’s often recommended to use <strong> over <b>. But remember, use these tags sparingly – too much bold text can make your webpage hard to read!

Defining Bold Text in HTML

Let’s dive right into it, shall we? To create bold text in HTML, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with certain tags. The most commonly used ones are the <b> and <strong> tags. Both of these will give your text that standout bold look.

Now, here’s how to use them. Let’s say you want to emphasize a word or phrase in your paragraph. Just wrap it within the <b> or <strong> tag like this:

<b>This is bold text</b>
<strong>This is also bold text</strong>

Guess what? In both cases, the output will be: This is bold text. Cool, huh?

But wait! There’s more to these tags than meets the eye. Their difference lies not in their appearance but their semantics – which means the underlying meaning they communicate to web browsers and assistive technologies.

The <b> tag just makes the enclosed text visually bold without any implication about its importance. It’s merely a stylistic choice.

On the other hand, when you use the <strong> tag, you’re signaling that this piece of content has extra significance – for example,

<p>The sky is falling! No just kidding - only a bit of 
<strong>Rain</strong></p>

In reading devices for visually impaired users, “Rain” would get special emphasis because it was marked as important with a strong tag.

Another way to make your texts stand out boldly is by using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). This gives you even more control over your styling as seen below:

<p style="font-weight:bold;">This sentence will also appear in bold.</p>

Remember that each approach has its own pros and cons so choose wisely based on your requirement. As always practice makes perfect – keep experimenting until you find what works best for you!

Exploring the <b> and <strong> Tags

Diving into the world of HTML, you’ll often come across different tags meant to alter text. Two such tags are <b> and <strong>. They’re mainly used to bold text, but there’s a subtle difference between them that we’ll explore in this section.

Let’s kick things off with the simpler tag: <b>. This is a straightforward way to bold text in HTML. For instance, if I write <b>This is sample text</b> in my HTML file, it will display as: This is sample text on the webpage. It’s an easy-to-use tool for emphasizing certain parts of your content without implying any extra importance.

On the other hand, we have the <strong> tag. At first glance, it seems identical to the <b> tag; both make text bold. If I use <strong>This is another sample</strong>, it also results in This is another sample on my page. But there’s more than meets the eye here!

While both tags result in bolded text visually, their meaning differs when it comes to web accessibility and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). The <strong> tag isn’t just about making words stand out — it tells browsers and assistive technologies like screen readers that its content carries more weight or importance compared to surrounding text.

To put it plainly:

Additionally, some search engines may give more precedence to words contained within a <strong> tag than those within a simple <b>, potentially affecting how your site ranks on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Remember these differences as you continue coding your website – they might seem minor but can greatly improve user accessibility and SEO performance over time!

Common Mistakes When Making Text Bold in HTML

I’ve stumbled upon countless websites where the text that should be bold isn’t. It’s a small mistake, but it can significantly impact how users perceive your content. Here are some of the most common mistakes I see people making when trying to make text bold in HTML.

First off, many beginners confuse the <b> and <strong> tags. Both of these tags will make your text appear bold, but they have different uses semantically. The <b> tag is purely for visual styling and carries no extra emphasis or importance with it. On the other hand, the <strong> tag indicates that its contents carry stronger importance than regular text.

An example might look like this:

<b>This text will be bold.</b>
<strong>This text will also be bold, but carries more weight.</strong>

Another mistake I often see is not closing tags properly. Each opening tag needs a corresponding closing tag to function correctly. Forgetting to include a closing tag can result in unexpected display issues on your website.

Here’s an example of what NOT to do:

<b> This text is supposed to be bold.
<p> But because I forgot to close my <b> tag, this paragraph is also appearing bold!

And here’s how you’d fix it:

<b> This text is supposed to be bold.</b>
<p>Now that I've closed my <b>tag</b>, this paragraph appears normal!

Lastly, don’t forget about CSS! While HTML tags can change the appearance of your text, CSS allows for much more control over how your page looks. You might want certain words or phrases within a sentence to stand out more than others; with CSS you can do just that!

Here’s an example using inline CSS:

<p style="font-weight:bold;">This sentence is bold!</p>

Remember, practice makes perfect. Keep experimenting and learning from your mistakes, and you’ll be a pro at making text bold in HTML in no time!

Cristian G. Guasch

Hey! I'm Cristian Gonzalez, I created HTML Easy to help you learn HTML easily and fast.

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