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copied!<h3>Why is <code><small></code> still in HTML5, but <code><big></code> isn’t?</h3> <p>I’d assume <code><small></code> is still around because it’s often used for side comments, disclaimers, etc in practice, and there isn’t an existing HTML element suited to the task.</p> <p>Ian Hickson tried to design HTML5 based on how HTML was used in practice: paving the cowpaths. Thus there are places where logic is sacrificed for practicability. (As it says on <a href="http://blog.whatwg.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the WHATWG blog, “Please leave your sense of logic at the door, thanks!”</a>.</p> <p>If people <em>are</em> already using <code><small></code> for side comments, and aren’t using <code><big></code> for anything meaningful (I say “if” as there’s plenty of room to debate and/or research that), then why not enshrine the common usage of the former in the spec, and remove the latter?</p> <h3>Why are <code><b></code> and <code><i></code> still in HTML5 if they’re purely visual in effect?</h3> <p><code><b></code> and <code><i></code> have been redefined to have meaning in HTML5, although it’s a very light form of meaning:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec-author-view/the-i-element.html#the-i-element" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code><i></code>: “a span of text in an alternate voice or mood”</a></li> <li><a href="http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec-author-view/the-b-element.html#the-b-element" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code><b></code>: “a span of text to which attention is being drawn for utilitarian purposes”</a></li> </ul> <p>They’re now general purpose elements, to be used to distinguish runs of text for reasons not covered specifically by another tag.</p>

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