Bitmapped type can be created in various colors, adding another tool for emphasis and coherence. Graphics of bitmapped type can be created on transparent backgrounds or within bars or other shapes, giving additional ways to achieve contrast and emphasize your document's structural divisions. Consider the needs of your expected audience. Watch out for HTML italics. Most italics set lighter in value than the regular, or roman, version of the same typeface, so they are not good for adding emphasis to passages longer than a few words, unless the text is bolded as well as italicized.
Italics are a poor choice for headings or callouts unless bolded.
Try using blockquote and unordered list tags to keep lines short. Long text lines require more head and eye movement to scan than short ones. In print, this may not be inappropriate if a deliberate reading speed is desired. On low resolution screens, and where quick scanning is important, long lines are fatiguing and frustrating. HTML blockquote and unordered list tags, though designed for specific purposes, can be used anywhere you want indented text to shorten line length.