[thelist] replace <b> with <strong> (why dont use b tag)]

aardvark roselli at earthlink.net
Wed Jul 31 14:12:09 CDT 2002


> From: Mark Howells <webdev at mountain.ch>
[...]
> Yes, or for the times when you'd like to apply a <span title="Pop-up
> help text functionality in IE">tool-tip</span> to a piece of text that
> has no structural meaning outside the browser.

except that if that were a real-world scenario, i'd bet that, given
context, i could find something appropriate, or at least offer some
suggestions...

if not, then, well, sure, but somehow it doesn't look right...

> That's one of the reasons that many developers use <span> incorrectly,
> as a visual heading cue. The best piece of advice I've read recently
> is to build a site using structurally correct HTML pages, applying the
> CSS at the end of the process. Any spacing which can't be eliminated
> around a heading or <div> tag with CSS should be accepted as a
> characteristic of a browser -- most modern browsers can manage spacing
> around heading elements with CSS. Those which can't -- now in the vast
> minority -- will still be able to approximate the intended layout
> without screwing it up too much, if your layout is as flexible as it
> should be if you're designing for web media.

i tend to agree, although i also avoid the <div>s where possible...  i
consider them a gateway tag...

> > So what's the verdict? Thumbs up or down?
>
> Up, if it's used correctly.
>
> Aardvark ??

what?  why me, anyway?

still thumbs-down, barring extreme exceptions...

by defaulting to treating them as bad, it makes me more likely to
find the correct tag...

hell, i've used frames, and i've built pages that don't scale down to
640x480 -- even the hard rules i promote still have to allow for
exceptions, otherwise they're, well, nutty...


--
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Usability: The Site Speaks for Itself
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