Why is HTML rendering as Plain Text in a simple 'title' alteration?

Question

I have been able to change each node's Comment Link 'title' text (that on default renders 'Add new comment') with the below code, but if I add HTML, it renders as plain text. I'm trying to add a FontAwesome icon before this text <i class="fa fa-comments" aria-hidden="true"></i>

function MODULE_node_view_alter(&$build) {
  $node = $build['#node'];
  if (isset($build['links']['comment']['#links']['comment-add'])) {
    $build['links']['comment']['#links']['comment-add']['title'] = '<i class="fa fa-comments" aria-hidden="true"></i> Add Comment';
  }
}

All I have passed is a $build parameter, but I am unsure of whether or not this is the issue.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

You can render HTML in links by setting the html option to TRUE. Check theme_links() to see all options.

For example

theme('links', array(
  'links' => array(
    'title' => '<span>Title</span>',
    'href' => 'node/1',
    'html' => FALSE, // default
  )
))

would result in the span tag being escaped, while

theme('links', array(
  'links' => array(
    'title' => '<span>Title</span>',
    'href' => 'node/1',
    'html' => TRUE,
  )
))

would render the span tag as html.

So in your case you need to add the following row.

$build['links']['comment']['#links']['comment-add']['html] = TRUE;

Answer 2

Titles do not support HTML markup. This is AFAIK a security countermeasure.

There was an HTML Title module but it can no longer be downloaded because of unfixed security issues.

If you want to add an icon, you can add it to the form as #markup and then just adjust the placement as needed.