[whatwg] De-emphasis

[Michel Fortin]

As another general comment on this discussion, I will say that I  
agree with David Walbert's observations that it is impossible to to  
"de-emphasize" something. However, I believe that what some means  
here by de-emphasising something is that they want to *emphasize the  
unimportance* of what they're saying. To me, "de-emphasis" is just  
another kind of emphasis where you state that the reader doesn't  
really need to know that thing but the author want to say it anyway.

Like David, I think the best rendering for "de-emphasis" would be to  
use parenthesis, notes, or asides depending on the exact nature of  
the content. Frankly, I don't think we need to introduce any new  
element for the general case of emphasizing the pointlessness of  
something. If an element is introduced however, maybe <pointless>  
would be a better name, less abstract and harder to misuse than  
anything derived from "de-emphasis".


Michel Fortin
michel.fortin at michelf.com
http://www.michelf.com/