On 07/02/07, Designer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I feel very restricted by the use of <div> (even with a descriptive identifier or class) because <div> means very little. I'm glad we have such things as <p> (and the rest!) because they make code easier to read.
Well, the thing with a separator is, it doesn't in itself specify anything else than that the content on one side belongs does not belong to the same grouping as the content on the other side. But if you instead mark up each grouping with the appropriate semantical element, then you get the separation with the boundary. And while a separator element doesn't tell you at which semantic level the separation is, wrapping semantical elements for the content before and after the separation clearly specify this. The separator element signifies LESS than div element boundaries do, because the divs at least tell you at which level the separation takes place. However, a separator element can be used to strengthen the semantic importance of that boundary if placed between the wrapping elements. However, consider a node tree like this:
h1 p h2 p h3 p hr p hr p.copyright
Okay, we can assume the copyright paragraph is conceptually at top level, since it's likely a footer. Could a machine tell? No, because the hr doesn't give any information more than it being a separator, not at what level the separation takes place. It's our knowledge of language that tells us it probably doesn't belong to the content sections of the h1, the h2 or the h3 however. But tell me, the paragraph before that hr, does that paragraph belong conceptually at the top level, at the h1, the h2 or the h3 level? Compare to this:
section > h > p > section > > h > > p > > section > > > h > > > p > > separator (redundant) > > p separator (redundant) p.copyright
Suddenly, the separation by wrapper boundaries makes it very clear at which level the separation takes place. The separator elements are redundant, but can be used to emphasise the conceptual separation. And if you want an emphasis on the separation level, a better choice would be to wrap the paragraphs in question by a headless section element instead of preceding them with a separator element.
Roll on xhtml 5! However I suspect this is way way down the line and everything will have changed anyway.
Well, if by "XHTML 5" you mean WA1.0, then it'll probably be a standard years before you can find two implementations, not to speak of interoperable implementations, of XHTML 2.
In the meantime, the less divs I can use, the better . . .
As long as there's something that semantically fits better than "this content is conceptually closer grouped than the surrounding content", go ahead. -- David "liorean" Andersson ******************************************************************* List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *******************************************************************
