Why is the "dfn" tag not allowed?

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  michaelmeiser · Member · Dec 11, 2013 at 3:36 pm

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  I pre-write my posts and pages in a standalone HTML editor and understand why HTML tags like “iframe” and “embed” are not allowed in WP. But why can’t I use “dfn”? What’s the problem with this harmless tag?

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  timethief · Member · Dec 11, 2013 at 6:07 pm

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  WordPress.com allows the following HTML code in your posts, pages, and widgets http://en.support.wordpress.com/code/#html-tags

  The <dfn> tag is a phrase tag. It defines a definition term.
  Tip: This tag is not deprecated, but it is possible to achieve richer effect with CSS. http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_dfn.asp

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  timethief · Member · Dec 11, 2013 at 6:08 pm

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  See here for details on purchasing the annually renewable custom and CSS editing:
  Custom design – Frequently Asked Questions
  http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/#frequently-asked-questions
  http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/
  http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/editing-css/

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  michaelmeiser · Member · Dec 11, 2013 at 9:45 pm

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  Thanks for your response.
  The issue is not only that there is no CSS style for the “dfn” tag – the tag itself is also filtered out by the WP editor, which makes no sense to me since it is no security risk at all.
  I have now decided to use the “i” tag as a surrogate, so the definition terms are at least typographically highlighted, but “i” has no semantic value at all.
  I would like to suggest a) the permission of the “dfn” tag and b) making it italic by default.

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  kraftbj · Staff · Dec 11, 2013 at 10:59 pm

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  Hi Michael,

  Thanks for the suggestion. You’re right—it is a purely markup tag. I’ve added it to our list of improvements to make soon. We’ll review for others we should allow but haven’t been whitelisted for some reason or another.

  Cheers!