Re: Using <p> elements purely as containers of phrasing elements? Semantic or not?

On Tue, May 7, 2013 at 2:47 AM, Xaxio Brandish <xaxiobrandish@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ian, HTML 5.1 defines a paragraph [1] as:
>
>> A paragraph is typically a run of phrasing content that forms a block of
>> text with one or more sentences that discuss a particular topic, as in
>> typography, but can also be used for more general thematic grouping. For
>> instance, an address is also a paragraph, as is a part of a form, a byline,
>> or a stanza in a poem.
>
>
> A paragraph is represented by the <p> element. The important part of this
> that applies to your question is that it can be used for general thematic
> grouping, such as for related pairs of elements or footer information.
>

Thank you. I wish I had found that statement.


> The example markup in question [3] is as follows:
>
>   <p><a href="about.html">About</a> -
>      <a href="policy.html">Privacy Policy</a> -
>      <a href="contact.html">Contact Us</a></p>
>
> It is debatable whether this is related information (company information) or
> unrelated information (company history, current policies, contact
> information).  A list *could* be used here, but it doesn't necessarily add
> any semantics to the content.  Instead, a paragraph element is used to group
> themed information (common footer information).
>
> --Xaxio
>
> References:
> [1] http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/dom.html#paragraph
> [2] http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1866
> [3] http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/sections.html#the-nav-element
>

Yeah, sometimes there are such mixture-typed hyperlinks that is
difficult to to tell if they are thematically related or not.

As for if using a list here add any semantics to the content or not, I
have some thought but not sure about it. Maybe the semantics of a HTML
element can be conveyed via its "context" or "parent element". Say, if
its previous element is a line of copyright statement, then the list
can be regarded as copyright-related content. Or if its parent element
is footer, then the list can be regarded as contentinfo-related
content.


Kind Regards,
Ian Yang

Received on Tuesday, 7 May 2013 02:57:28 UTC