Re: [html] Semantics of "aside", "header", and "footer"

Jens Meiert wrote:
>>>> footer { position: fixed; top:0; }
>>>> 
>>>> Is it still footer or is it header now?
>> It's a footer. Functionally you might notice this for several reasons:
> 
> Couldn't any other element bear this functionality, too, meaning an element
> that has a different name, but the same or similar semantics?

Of course it can be called anything. Assuming we want the name to be functional, 
there are a few constrains that need to be optimized including, significantly in 
this context, whether a chosen name will encourage authors use an element as 
intended or not. I think "footer" does well here by providing a reference point 
for the expected content that authors are familiar with from other types of 
publishing. This, to me, outweighs the concern that the name could be misleading 
because it possible to make the element appear somewhere other than below the 
content to which it applies or the concern that they might put non-"footer" 
content in the element for some reason.

-- 
"Eternity's a terrible thought. I mean, where's it all going to end?"
  -- Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Received on Friday, 7 September 2007 13:08:18 UTC