[thelist] semantic markup

[lancelot]

Diane wrote:

> Every now and then a question about semantic markup comes up and it
> makes me wonder about something.

yup!

> It's all the rage right now to write semantic markup, but for the most
> part, semanitic markup was invented to describe prose documents.

absolutely

>And what we are creating is often something more akin to a user interface.
> So why then do we have to drive ourselves nuts trying to style, for
> example, <li> tags with CSS (probably one of the most difficult
> elements to style consistently across browsers) just to make a user
> interface navigation bar? (Or the image with the caption problem, for
> another example.)

This is something I, myself, don't quite get either.

> The thing that really bugs me with <li> tags is that for browsers such
> as Lynx that do not use the CSS, you get a vertical list of links
> rather than the horizontal bar of buttons you really intend--and what
> is actually more convenient for the user in my opinion. It's a
> horizontal navigation _bar_, not a vertical bullet list!

totally agreed upon that!

> I sure wish there was some markup to address what these web pages
> really are, which is a user interface with, possibly, a prose document
> in the middle of it. Guess XML will solve this someday.
>

Sure, Diane, the fact is that everything is useful and everithing is not,
what REALLY counts is the function and the time, by that I mean the purpose
that anything we do, might have in a determined context and, mind you, ONLY
in THAT context, rather than in another.

best wishes!

Paolo Dodet
http://www.noblocodenotas.com


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