Introducing HTML5, Second Edition

Chapter 1: Main Structure

Bruce Lawson

ALTHOUGH MUCH OF the attention that HTML5 has received revolves around the new APIs, there is a great deal to interest markup monkeys as well as JavaScript junkies. There are 30 new elements with new semantics that can be used in traditional “static” pages. There is also a swathe of new form controls that can abolish JavaScript form validation altogether.

So, let’s get our hands dirty. In this chapter, we’ll transform the current markup structure of <div>s into a semantic system. New HTML5 structural elements like <nav>, <header>, <footer>, <aside>, and <article> designate specific types of content. We’ll look at how these work, and how HTML5 documents have an unambiguous outline and are—arguably—more “semantic.” ...