Semantic web development
Well, I’ve read plenty of articles about HTML and XHTML semantics. I know most of you reading this will have done the same before getting to my article and probably will go to others after reading this. What i have to say will agree to some degree with others out there and maybe yourself but I am sure there will be points you agree with.
So lets begin…
Like I said up there, after reading many articles explaining to me what it means for a document to be semantic. Most of these articles, did not explain it in layman’s terms, having been a IT Trainer some years back, I know the need to ensure you explain everything and always from the start.
So I have decided to put this article together as an overview of what HTML elements actually may be considered semantic - what those semantic elements actually mean and why it matters.
It matter to us all, well it should do, because at the end of the day we are providing information today for the here and now but also for the future, infact who knows how long pages that I have created will stay online. Will my grandchildren one day stumble upon a site that GRANDAD created? I for one hope so, and to that end want to create website that are semantic and well structured. Allowing for the content to be available to all mediums that should be able to envoke the code….
ok go i will go on…
The literal meaning of semantics can be fairly defined as the study of meaning in communication. Communication can readily be extended to cover symbolic notations, representations of language, organization of language, body language and information structures. In developing a web page, we are organizing a means to communicate the content of that page: ideally, we are organizing the page in such a manner that it will be understood regardless of the method by which the page is accessed. It should be equally understandable whether seen, heard, or felt.
The semantics of HTML structure, then, are clearly an important part of web design. Sending mixed signals to the user agent or the user by using a blockquote purely for it’s native indentation is an abuse of semantics: even the visual impact is dependent on the assumption that user agents will consistently render a blockquote in an indented manner.
It’s not precisely an issue that you’ve used a semantic element for presentational means, because, in fact, you’ve done more than that: you’ve presented a block of text which is not quoted material as if it were.
Semantic elements of HTML carry meaning regardless of your knowledge of that meaning. The result is that the misuse of an element creates the potential to mislead or confuse an end-user.
The most obvious examples in common use are those which make use of elements with semantic meaning which also offer a browser-contributed default presentation in order to use that presentational style. The blockquote example above is not uncommon; similarly, the use of empty p elements to create extra white space or heading elements used as a questionable SEO technique in substitution for normal paragraphs.
So I would say to you, when coding a page, think about what it is that you are trying to convey, write it down and then when it reads and writes well, code it up and make sure you use the correct tags for that element. Don’t use H1 tags more than once and do turn of the css of your page to see if it truly is semantic to read.
Let me know if you think this is a rant or some advice to use for the future?