Web/HTML/Element/strong

The HTML Strong Importance Element () indicates that its contents have strong importance, seriousness, or urgency. Browsers typically render the contents in bold type.

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Content categories	Flow content, phrasing content, palpable content.
Permitted content	Phrasing content.
Tag omission	None, must have both a start tag and an end tag.
Permitted parents	Any element that accepts phrasing content, or any element that accepts flow content.
Implicit ARIA role	No corresponding role
Permitted ARIA roles	Any
DOM interface	`HTMLElement`

Attributes

This element only includes the global attributes.

Usage notes

The  element is for content that is of "strong importance," including things of great seriousness or urgency (such as warnings). This could be a sentence that is of great importance to the whole page, or you could merely try to point out that some words are of greater importance compared to nearby content.

Typically this element is rendered by default using a bold font weight. However, it should not be used simply to apply bold styling; use the CSS font-weight property for that purpose. Use the  element to draw attention to certain text without indicating a higher level of importance. Use the  element to mark text that has stress emphasis.

Another accepted use for  is to denote the labels of paragraphs which represent notes or warnings within the text of a page.

vs.

It is often confusing to new developers why there are so many ways to express the same thing on a rendered website.  and  are perhaps one of the most common sources of confusion, causing developers to ask "Should I use  or ? Don't they both do the same thing?"

Not exactly. The  element is for content that is of greater importance, while the  element is used to draw attention to text without indicating that it's more important.

It may help to realize that both are valid and semantic elements in HTML5 and that it's a coincidence that they both have the same default styling (boldface) in most browsers (although some older browsers actually underline ). Each element is meant to be used in certain types of scenarios, and if you want to bold text simply for decoration, you should instead actually use the CSS font-weight property.

The intended meaning or purpose of the enclosed text should be what determines which element you use. Communicating meaning is what semantics are all about.

vs.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that while HTML 4 defined  as simply indicating a stronger emphasis, HTML 5 defines  as representing "strong importance for its contents." This is an important distinction to make.

While  is used to change the meaning of a sentence as spoken emphasis does ("I love carrots" vs. "I love carrots"),  is used to give portions of a sentence added importance (e.g., "Warning! This is very dangerous.") Both  and  can be nested to increase the relative degree of importance or stress emphasis, respectively.

Examples

Basic example

<p>Before proceeding, <strong>make sure you put on your safety goggles</strong>.</p>

The resulting output:

Labeling warnings

<p><strong>Important:</strong> Before proceeding, make sure you add plenty of butter.</p>

This results in:

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
HTML Living StandardThe definition of '<strong>' in that specification.	Living Standard
HTML5The definition of '<strong>' in that specification.	Recommendation
HTML 4.01 SpecificationThe definition of '<strong>' in that specification.	Recommendation

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`strong`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1 Notes' Full support 1 Notes' Notes' Before Firefox 4, creating a `<strong>` element incorrectly resulted in an `HTMLSpanElement` object, instead of the expected `HTMLElement`.	IE Full support Yes	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support Yes	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes

Legend

Full support: Full support
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.

Web/HTML/Element/strong

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