Posted 04/07/2009 at 05:12:13pm

While you are correct that visually <b> and <strong> are the same thing, the <strong> and <em> tags should be used in order to make your web site more accessible to people that rely on screen readers for their web surfing. Bolding or italicising text are generally used to put emphasis on a word or phrase or some other part of your text. Most screen readers will ignore <b> or <i> tags, but will emphasize anything in a <strong> or <em> tag. This way you are able to get your point across verbally through a screen reader as well as visually through the browser.

And in my opinion (as a web designer) <u> should never be used. It's just tacky.

Cheers!