can't use it

The tendency of software engineers to think that they are smarter than users create usability gaps.

For XHTML evangelists line breaks are bad, tags like <small> are a no-no.

But isn’t it snobbish to prevent them from using the tags they want to use? TinyMCE strips line breaks out of your hand-written code and isn’t very willing for <small> either.

WCollage wrote:

I’m looking for a code that creates a toolbar button which makes <small> tags,
exactly as “I” or “B” buttons make Italic text or Bold text.

My advice: Forget about <small> elements entirely. They aren’t semantic and as such they serve no real purpose any more. They used to define that a portion of text is supposed to look smaller – and thus only refer to visual representation instead of structural meaning (which is the core point of (X)HTML in the first place!). This can be achieved better by using CSS. So: Use <span> elements with appropriate classes instead!

Greetings from Germany,
Felix Riesterer.

If it’s about semanticity, I can say that I associate <small> with things that are of less importance. Happy? Now, where’s my button? And hands off my line breaks! :)