How to Use HTML5 Semantic Elements
HTML5 has several new layers, including a new set of semantic tags. While there is still some debate about whether or not we should be using and styling these tags I think at the very least we should start learning them.
Over the last year or two I’ve read quite a number of posts talking about html5 structural tags and most of them left me a bit confused about how to use them.
Recently I read Jeremy Keith‘s excellent book, HTML5 for Web Designers from A Book Apart and now feel like I have a better understanding of how these tags should work.
This post is a further attempt to better understand things for myself and hopefully pass on some of that understanding to you.
Today I want to run through each of the new tags and briefly explain what each is meant to be used for. I’ll keep the code itself light in this post.
Note: Some of the elements below lead to a new content model for structuring documents. I’ll talk about more about content models on Thursday. Next week I’ll do my best to present some code for a typical blog post using these new html5 elements.
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| <article> | Defines an article |
| <aside> | Defines content aside from the page content |
| <bdi> | Isolates a part of text that might be formatted in a different direction from other text outside it |
| <command> | Defines a command button that a user can invoke |
| <details> | Defines additional details that the user can view or hide |
| <dialog> | Defines a dialog box or window |
| <summary> | Defines a visible heading for a <details> element |
| <figure> | Specifies self-contained content, like illustrations, diagrams, photos, code listings, etc. |
| <figcaption> | Defines a caption for a <figure> element |
| <footer> | Defines a footer for a document or section |
| <header> | Defines a header for a document or section |
| <mark> | Defines marked/highlighted text |
| <meter> | Defines a scalar measurement within a known range (a gauge) |
| <nav> | Defines navigation links |
| <progress> | Represents the progress of a task |
| <ruby> | Defines a ruby annotation (for East Asian typography) |
| <rt> | Defines an explanation/pronunciation of characters (for East Asian typography) |
| <rp> | Defines what to show in browsers that do not support ruby annotations |
| <section> | Defines a section in a document |
| <time> | Defines a date/time |
| <wbr> | Defines a possible line-break |
