Re: current definition of <figure> in HTML is problematic

Hi all have proposed informative changes to clarify figure element usage
based on discussion in this thread:

https://github.com/w3c/html/pull/10

regards
SteveF

On 24 January 2013 09:44, Steve Faulkner <faulkner.steve@gmail.com> wrote:

> I think the current definition [4] of  the figure element leads to
> developers thinking that they cannot use it to caption an image or images
> that are ket parts of the content:
>
> "The element can thus be used to annotate illustrations, diagrams, photos,
> code listings, etc, that are referred to from the main content of the
> document, but that could, without affecting the flow of the document, be
> moved away from that primary content, e.g. to the side of the page, to
> dedicated pages, or to an appendix."
>
> For example, in this current discussion
> http://html5doctor.com/html5-simplequiz-7-pinterest/
>
> developers are making statements such as [1]:
>
> "I don’t think figure is appropriate, because it’s for things that can be
> taken out of flow and moved to an appendix, and the pins on the page are
> the whole point of the flow"
>
> "<figure>s are intended to contain accessory content, not the main
> substance of the section in question. The spec says they can be moved away
> from the main flow of the document without affecting the document’s
> meaning. I therefore don’t think it’s appropriate to use them for the main
> image and description here." [2]
>
> And highly influential developers such as Jeremy Keith appear to agree [3]
>
> There appears to be no good reason why a page containing an image that is
> the main content of the page (example:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/46646759@N03/8408567494/in/explore-2013-01-23)
> should not be captioned using the following pattern, if fact it should be
> encouraged.
>
> <figure>
> <img>
>
> <figcaption> caption text</figcaption>
> </figure>
>
>
> Suggest modifying the definition to remove the unecessary constraint on
> figure use.
>
> [1] http://html5doctor.com/html5-simplequiz-7-pinterest/#comment-30251
> [2] http://html5doctor.com/html5-simplequiz-7-pinterest/#comment-30262
> [3] http://html5doctor.com/html5-simplequiz-7-pinterest/#comment-30255
> [4]
> http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/grouping-content.html#the-figure-element
>
> --
> with regards
>
> Steve Faulkner
> Technical Director - TPG
>
> www.paciellogroup.com | www.HTML5accessibility.com |
> www.twitter.com/stevefaulkner
> HTML5: Techniques for providing useful text alternatives -
> dev.w3.org/html5/alt-techniques/
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>



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