U - Underlined Text

The U element, deprecated in HTML 4.0, suggests that text be rendered as underlined text. In most cases, use of a phrase element such as CITE or STRONG is more appropriate since such elements express the meaning of the text more clearly.

Style sheets should be used to complement or replace instances of U. For example, replacing

<H1><U>My heading</U></H1>

with

<H1>My heading</H1>

and

H1 { text-decoration: underline }

in a style sheet allows the author to change the presentation of all H1 elements in an entire site by changing just one line in the style sheet.

More Information

• U in W3C HTML 4.0 Recommendation
• U in W3C HTML 3.2 Recommendation
• U in WDG HTML 3.2 Reference
• U in Learning HTML 3.2 by Examples