[whatwg] Semantic markup for buzzwords

[Alexey Feldgendler]

This is a proposal for semantic markup in HTML5.

Problem statement:

Modern web pages, especially those written for marketing purposes, often  
include so-called buzzwords, or trend-leveraging verbal tokens. Markup for  
them is needed both to achieve distinct visual rendering and to emphasize  
them for search engines. Despite the need for specialized semantic markup,  
currently no such markup exists, and authors use ad-hoc presentational  
markup for buzzwords.

Proposed solution:

Redefine the existing deprecated presentational element <B> to mean a  
buzzword. Keep existing default style (font-weight: bold) associated with  
it. With such formatting, buzzwords will visually stand out on the page,  
allowing the reader, such as a prospective VC evaluating an IT project  
proposal, to briefly skim through a web page picking out only buzzwords.

Advantages:

* The solution is backward compatible with existing browsers which already  
implement distinct rendering for <B>.
* The practice of using <B> to mark up buzzwords is already widely adopted.
* Some search engines rank words marked up with <B> higher than the rest  
of the text.
* <B> is a nice single-letter tag name that would be sad to waste as an  
obsolete element.


-- 
Alexey Feldgendler <alexeyf at opera.com>
[ICQ: 115226275] http://my.opera.com/feldgendler/