[thelist] semantic markup

[Greg Holmes]

Diane Soini wrote:
>For example, in java swing you use would use classes like
>JMenuBar or JToolBar, but in HTML the convention of the
>moment seems to be to use <li>.

>My only concern is that I do not think <li> is more 
>semantically correct for a menu bar than some other methods
>because what we are talking about is not an unordered 
>bullet list in the middle of some prose document, but a 
>user interface component.

I think this is where you keep tripping up - <li> within a 
<ul> does not mean "an unordered bullet list in the middle 
of some prose document".  It only means an item in an 
unordered list of items.  Think of it as an unordered
array or something, that you could manipulate or display
any number of ways.

*You* are attaching presentational meaning to <li> that it 
does not semantically contain.  Of the choices available in 
HTML, for a typical set of navigation links, it is the 
closest thing we have.

>A user interface component also has a language of context 
>and meaning. Therefore to say that <li> is somehow more 
>correct than a <table> (yeah, I know--please don't go 
>there) is kinda silly.

No it isn't.  You can at least make an argument that a group
of navigation links is an unordered list (purge your mind of
bullets, think some platonic ideal of an unordered list).
What on Earth would the columns of a <table> of such links 
be?

Greg Holmes