[html5] page element?

Thu Mar 18 06:03:43 PDT 2010

As I began to respond, I was getting hung up on the verbiage "page" and thought "maybe this is really two questions":

1) Should there be a content-wide "wrapper" element?
2) Should it be called <PAGE>?

To answer #2, I don't think so. The purpose of HTML is define the structure of a page, including metadata, title and content. If a <page> element did exist, it would have to live at the highest level -- replacing or wrapping <html> -- to be semantically sound. Unless the spec is going to be changed to allow multiple pages served from one file, I don't think a <page> element makes sense.

For the first question, I appreciate your example, but don't think semantics plays into it. <body> already encompasses the page content and your example for a new tag seems to be purely for styling purposes. It doesn't enhance the meaning of the code, and that falls squarely into the realm of <div>.

Does that make sense?

nz

On Mar 18, 2010, at 4:57 AM, designer wrote:

> Sorry for the confusing formatting of my code example.  For a clearer example, see [1]  where I've used <page> as a created element.
> 
> The page element would replace the various manifestations of <div id="wrapper"> .
> 
> Just as <div id="footer"> will be replaced by <footer>  and <div class="nav> will be replaced by <nav> etc etc, it seems to me that <page> ought to be available too.
> 
> It isn't <body>, because that's where the page background etc is/can be defined.  The <body> is (usually) the surface on which the <page> is seen. It isn't a <section> either, because the page is the 'whole' of it, not a part.
> 
> As Simon said, we all define it as a div, currently. I think that page (or wrapper, if you prefer)is more semantic and would provide a standard structural element to go side by side with the other new elements.
> 
> Does this make it clearer?
> 
> Anyone?
> 
> Bob
> 
> [1] http://www.betasite.fsnet.co.uk/gam/altgam/gwelanmor.html
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ian Hickson" <ian at hixie.ch>
> To: "designer" <designer at gwelanmor-internet.co.uk>
> Cc: <help at lists.whatwg.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 10:22 PM
> Subject: Re: [html5] page element?
> 
> 
>> 
>> On Wed, 17 Mar 2010, designer wrote:
>>> 
>>> I would like to propose a <page> element.
>> 
>> Depending on on what you mean, it's either <body> or <article>, possibly
>> in some cases <section>. It wasn't clear from your example exactly what
>> you meant by "page".
>> 
>> HTH,
>> -- 
>> Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
>> http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
>> Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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