Making Text Italic in HTML

To make a text italic in HTML, you can use either the <em> tag or the <i> tag.

Using the <em> Tag

The <em> tag is a phrase tag. It is used to draw attention to the text that is enclosed between its open (<em>) and close (</em>) tags. The text is often displayed in italic in a browser. Here's an example:

<em>This is an emphasized text.</em>

When you include the above code in your HTML, "This is an emphasized text." will be displayed as an italicized text in the browser.

Using the <i> Tag

The <i> tag is also used to italicize text. However, this tag is often used when there is a need to display a text in italic without adding any extra emphasis. Here's an example:

<i>This is an italic text.</i>

In this case, "This is an italic text." will be displayed in italic in the browser, just like the <em> tag.

Best Practices and Insights

It is best practice to use the <em> tag to emphasize text. This is because the <em> tag is a semantic HTML tag. Semantic HTML tags provide additional information about the content they surround, indirectly improving your website's SEO (search engine optimization).

In contrast, the <i> tag is a presentational tag, which means it doesn't provide any semantic information. So if you're writing HTML code with SEO or accessibility in mind, it's better to use <em> over <i>.

With that said, it's important to note that most modern web browsers render both <em> and <i> tags as italic, and the distinction is more about best practices for web development rather than user experience.