A small piece of HTML can change what a visitor sees or how the browser understands a page. In this lesson, you will explore ruby annotations for east asian text using a short example that you can inspect and change.
The Idea in Plain English
Ruby annotations provide small pronunciation or reading text for a base word. rt contains the reading, and rp provides fallback parentheses for older implementations.
You can test this using a small local HTML file. Change one part at a time and check the result in the browser before adding more code.
A Working Example
Read the sample once before copying it. Notice the element names and attribute values, then compare them with the explanation below.
<ruby>
漢 <rp>(</rp><rt>かん</rt><rp>)</rp>
字 <rp>(</rp><rt>じ</rt><rp>)</rp>
</ruby>What Each Part Does
- The ruby element groups base characters with pronunciation guidance.
- The rp element offers fallback punctuation around ruby readings.
- The rt element contains the annotation text for ruby.
Supporting browsers display the reading near the base characters.
Keep the example small while learning. Once it behaves as expected, try it inside a larger page and make sure the URLs, files and surrounding HTML are correct.
Try It Yourself
Try this next: display a mixed-language document and inspect its behavior focused on Ruby Annotations for East Asian Text, including a working example and an incorrect example to correct. Then inspect the page and explain what changed.
Common Beginner Mistakes
- Using ruby for decorative small print rather than language annotation.
- Changing several parts of the example at once, making it difficult to see which part caused a different result.
- Choosing a tag only because its default appearance looks right, without checking whether it describes the content correctly.
Key Takeaways
- Ruby annotations provide small pronunciation or reading text for a base word. rt contains the reading, and rp provides fallback parentheses for older implementations.
- Supporting browsers display the reading near the base characters.
- Test the markup in a browser, and check accessibility and real-world behavior where relevant.