HTML5 24-Hour Trainer

Chapter 27. Enhancing Web Page Structure

One of the great movements in recent years is the introduction of different devices capable of accessing the Web. From desktop to laptop to netbook to tablet to phone to TV — the number of devices continues to grow every year, all with their own particular size screen and dimensions. The growth of content on the Web has sparked a secondary revolution where information is cross-referenced and can appear on multiple pages and sites. A single blog post, for example, can be picked up and republished in any number of formats, such as a syndicated feed. How can portable content be viewed properly under all these different circumstances?

The answer is semantics.

Semantics is the study of meaning, particularly as it relates to words and text. When applied to HTML, semantics essentially means using the right tag for the right content. In other words, the semantic web is a standardized web where the same content can be given a proper display regardless of the device or containing context. As you learn in this lesson, a good number of new tags in HTML5 are devoted to enhancing the underlying structure of a web page.

Note

Though special care must be taken to use these new tags today, they are definitely the way of the future for web designers working with HTML5 and it's important you understand their application.

UNDERSTANDING CURRENT LAYOUTS

After you've looked at a number of websites, you begin to see a pattern. Most sites are designed along similar lines: ...