Re: Naming of <header>

James Graham wrote:
> At risk of creating a bikeshed discussion…
> 
> The <header> element's name seems to be creating some considerable
> confusion, with authors either assuming it designed to be used for all
> page header content or that it is designed to replace <h1>-<h6> and be a
> generic heading element (e.g. [1], [2] and note that these are the tiny
> fraction of people who are motivated to ask about these things upfront).
> Almost no one seems to guess that it is supposed to be used for grouping
> multiple heading/subheadings into an overall heading. This implies that
> it will be poorly used in practice and so UAs will not be able to
> reliably implement e.g. the outline algorithm since it will give
> unexpected results on real sites.
> 
> 
> This problem can be easily solved by giving the element a less
> misleading name, like <hgroup> or <headinggroup> or something.

Yes, I agree. There needs to be some way to better distinguish the
<header> element in terms of its functionality. Throw a couple of ARIA
role type elements into the mix and you have a riot in the bikeshed.

Josh

Received on Friday, 27 March 2009 12:28:28 UTC