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

David.Cantrell at Gunter.AF.mil David.Cantrell at Gunter.AF.mil
Wed Jul 31 11:21:07 CDT 2002


aardvark said:
>when i start using <span>, y'all are allowed to ridicule me, though...

And then Mark Howells said:
><span> isn't in the same set as <b> and the imaginary <red>, as it has no
>default styling characteristics without an applied style sheet -- in having
>this characteristic, it is ideal for applying styling cues exclusively in
>visual browsers.

Question: Is <span> a "good" or "bad" element? I mean this less in the sense
of "does it validate as XHTML" but more in the sense of "is it in the spirit
of expressive markup".

Should it be used only for visual styling where the actual semantic meaning
is irrelevant, as in the Mad Magazine example? (great example, BTW)
Obviously "only" is a strong word, but I'd like to hear more opinions on
this.

I've used spans a lot when I wanted to style something and didn't want the
built-in line breaks that come with divs or paragraph elements. Looking back
I probably could have done at least some of it with different tags (quote,
kbd, etc) but hindsight is 20/20. Of course I've become more of a purist now
than I was before, so maybe that plays into it as well.

So what's the verdict? Thumbs up or down?

Thanks,
-dave



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