The KBD element is one of a large group of elements that the HTML 4.0 recommendation calls phrase elements. Such elements assign structural meaning to a designated portion of the document. A KBD element is one that displays text that a user is supposed to type on the keyboard, presumably to fill a text field or issue some command.

Browsers have free rein to determine how (or whether) to distinguish KBD element content from the rest of the BODY element. Both Navigator and Internet Explorer elect to use a monospace font for the text. This can be overridden with a style sheet as you see fit.