Marking Changed Text

Another set of logical tags that you might find useful are the ones for marking text that has changed from one version to the next. Lawyers and bloggers do this all the time.

To mark newly inserted text:

1.	Type <ins>.
2.	Type the new text.
3.	Type </ins>.

To mark deleted text:

1.	Place the cursor before the text you wish to mark as deleted.
2.	Type <del>.
3.	Place the cursor after the text you wish to mark as deleted.
4.	Type </del>.

Figure 4.17. You have to be a little bit careful to include the associated punctuation with the ins and del elements.

Figure 4.18. The changes become quite apparent.

Tips

• Text marked with the ins tag is generally underlined. Since links are often underlined as well (if not in your site, in many others), this may be confusing to visitors. You may want to add an explanation at the beginning of your page and/or use styles to change how inserted passages (or links) are displayed (see page 151).

• Text marked with the del element is generally stricken out. Why not just erase it and be done with it? Striking it out makes it easy for others to see what has changed.

• You can also use styles to underline and strike out text (see page 168). The advantage of the ins and del elements is that they identify the text as being inserted or deleted, and not just underlined or stricken.