HTML <i> Tag

The HTML <i> tag represents text in an alternate voice or mood, or otherwise offset from the normal prose.

Prior to HTML5, the <i> element was used for presentational purposes only (i.e. to style text in italics), however, HTML5 gave a specific semantic purpose to the element. Although browsers typically still style <i> elements in italics, you should not use the <i> tag specifically for this purpose. To style text in italics, you should use the CSS font-style property.

Also, the <i> should not be used to convey stress emphasis. To markup text with stress emphasis, you should use the <em>.

Syntax

The <i> tag is written as <i></i> with the text inserted between the start and end tags.

Like this:

Examples

The HTML5 specification suggests that examples of <i> usage could include taxonomic designation, a technical term, an idiomatic phrase from another language, transliteration, a thought, or a ship name in Western texts.

Taxonomic Designation

In this example, the <i> tag is being used to mark up a taxonomic designation.

Technical Term

In this example, the <i> tag is being used to mark up a technical term.

A Thought

In this example, the <i> tag is being used to mark up a thought.

Ship Name

In this example, the <i> tag is being used to mark up two ship names.

Attributes

Attributes can be added to an HTML element to provide more information about how the element should appear or behave.

There are 3 kinds of attributes that you can add to your HTML tags: Element-specific, global, and event handler content attributes.

The <i> element accepts the following attributes.

Element-Specific Attributes

This table shows the attributes that are specific to the <i> tag/element.

AttributeDescription
None 

Global Attributes

The following attributes are standard across all HTML5 elements. Therefore, you can use these attributes with the <i> tag , as well as with all other HTML tags.

For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 global attributes.

Event Handler Content Attributes

Event handler content attributes enable you to invoke a script from within your HTML. The script is invoked when a certain "event" occurs. Each event handler content attribute deals with a different event.

Below are the standard HTML5 event handler content attributes.

Again, you can use any of these with the <i> element, as well as any other HTML5 element.

For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 event handler content attributes.

Differences Between HTML 4 & HTML 5

In HTML 4 (and earlier), the <i> tag was used solely for rendering text in italics, however, HTML5 has given the element the specific semantic purpose of representing text in an alternate voice or mood, or otherwise offset from the normal prose in a manner indicating a different quality of text. Style sheets can be used to format this text (just like any other element).

To see more detail on the two versions see HTML5 <i> Tag and HTML4 <i> Tag. Also check out the links to the official specifications below.

Template

Here's a template for the <i> tag with all available attributes for the tag (based on HTML5). These are grouped into attribute types, each type separated by a space. In many cases, you will probably only need one or two (if any) attributes. Simply remove the attributes you don't need.

Note that the <i> element does not actually have any local attributes (i.e. attributes that are specific to the element), but the following global attributes and event handlers are available to the element (and all other HTML elements).

For more information on attributes for this tag, see HTML5 <i> Tag and HTML4 <i> Tag.

Tag Details

For more details about the <i> tag, see HTML5 <i> Tag and HTML4 <i> Tag.

Specifications

Here are the official specifications for the <i> element.

What's the Difference?

W3C creates "snapshot" specifications that don't change once defined. So the HTML5 specification won't change once it becomes an official recommendation. WHATWG on the other hand, develops a "living standard" that is updated on a regular basis. In general, you will probably find that the HTML living standard will be more closely aligned to the current W3C draft than to the HTML5 specification.