Semantic
adj : of or relating to the study of meaning and changes of meaning;

Source: Dictionary.com

Do as I say, not as I do…

HTML is a language for describing content. It is not for display. I accept that it has its limitations in terms of how it is used for display. However, correct semantic markup will is better for your users and you.

Despite the widespread replacement of <b> and <i> with <strong> and <em> Matthew Thomas gives some examples of the uses of semantic code offers some advice:

if you want to use bold or italics, and HTML doesn’t have a semantic element for what you mean, use b or i. If you’re not sure which semantic element to use, use b or i. And if you’re creating an authoring tool for people who won’t know or care about semantics, please leave the semantic markup alone, and just stick to b and i

While the simplicity of this appeals to me, and the practicality can’t be denied, I still don’t feel comfortable working this way.

If I really don’t know what is semantically correct (and couldn’t find a suitable answer) I’d use a <span class="whatever"> (or perhaps an id instead of class)

I think that this is better as you can then define its display using stylesheets. <span> has the advantage of being a generic inline container with no sematic meaning itself (i.e. you can use it to influence the display, without affecting the semantics of a document).

Dan Cederholm’s SimpleQuiz is a great resource and generates great discussion about semantics