On Mon, Apr 26, 2021 at 11:43 PM Bryan Kilgallin <kilgal...@iinet.net.au> wrote: > > Thanks, Jim: > > > I also write a lot of tech articles in raw HTML. I use HTML when I > > can't get the formatting I want through other means. What I like about > > using HTML5 is the semantic code, so the tags hold some meaning. > > I currently use table and td. What is preferable about aside, figure and > figcaption?
I don't want to get off topic from the email list, but the short answer is: Using semantic tags makes it easier for screen readers and other assistive technology to help the user. As a tech writer, I also like that semantic tags hold meaning within the document. I can write the document using the tags that are appropriate for the content, and I don't have to worry about presentation. For example, <i> and <em> and <cite> all render text in italics, but they mean different things (<i> is for idiomatic text or technical terms, <em> is when you need to apply emphasis to part of a statement, and <cite> is for citations like book titles). I leave presentation for the stylesheets (CSS). And I try to add very little "presentation" tags to my documents. If you use <table> and <td> to create a web page, you are assuming the browser is wide enough to display the table content you want to show. That can cause certain problems on mobile devices, for example - or for users who need assistive technology. Only use <table> and <td> when you need to display data in a table. If you want to discuss HTML further, I'm happy to - but we should probably take that discussion off-list. _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
