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<strong>

Saying "this word is important", and having screen readers know it

— 1 min read

  • HTML
  • accessibility
  • semantics
  • text

<strong> — Strong importance

The <strong> element indicates that its content has strong importance: a warning, a critical keyword, an instruction not to miss. Browsers render it in bold by default, but the meaning is semantic, not visual.

When to use it

You want to flag important content within a paragraph: a warning ("Never share your password"), a key term, or a critical instruction. If you just want bold for styling, use CSS (font-weight: bold) instead of <strong>.

What you gain

Accessibility: in theory, screen readers can change intonation for <strong>. In practice, NVDA has a setting for this but it is off by default, JAWS does not do it, and VoiceOver ignores it. The real value is structural: <strong> signals importance in the code, which extraction tools and future screen readers can leverage.

Code example

<p>
  <strong>Warning:</strong> this action cannot be undone.
  Make sure you have a backup before proceeding.
</p>

Further reading