HTML: "strong" or "bold"? We explain the difference

The attributes "strong" and "bold" are both suitable for marking a text area bold in HTML. Our guide explains what the difference is in technical terms.

Two methods, same purpose? That's not always true with "strong" and "bold".

An overview of some important HTML markup including "bold" can be found here. However, the difference to "strong" is not explained there.

HTML: "strong" and "bold" in comparison

The effect of "strong" and "bold" is usually the same: The text section bracketed by the tags is displayed bold. However, there is a difference in the background:

• "bold" (with the tags <b></b>) is an external attribute that refers solely to the display - in this case, the bold font.
• With "strong" (tags: <strong></strong>), on the other hand, you give the area a logical statement. This does not necessarily mean boldface, but can also have other reinforcing effects, such as a different color or font size.

However, "strong" is mostly distinguished with the effect of boldface, unless this is changed manually. The result is thus identical in a large part of the use cases; if it is once not so, you know now, however, what it is and can start there. If you want to be sure that the text is only marked bold, "bold" is the better choice, since there are no alternatives.