[whatwg] Allow author's data either in header and footer

[Aurelio De Rosa]

Hi to all.

I'm writing this email because I want to discuss about where to have the
author's data inside an <article>. According to specification, the header

The header element represents a group of introductory or navigational aids.


while the footer

A footer typically contains information about its section such as who wrote
> it, links to related documents, copyright data, and the like.


So the specs assert that the author's data have to stay into the <footer>.

If we consider a tipical structure of an <article> (header-article-footer),
it is already an habit to see the data in both locations (<header> and
<footer>). Infact, most blogs usually put those data in the first section
(the <header>) while most traditional newspapers put the signature of the
author in the last part (the <footer>).

Althought the specs say:

Footers don’t necessarily have to appear at the end of a section, though
> they usually do.


this would carry to a situation where a lot of blogs have to change the
intuitive and natural structure header-article-footer into a
more counterintuitive one and that is header-footer-article.

So, in conclusion, my opinion is that the specs should provide suggestion
to have the data in one of the two tags interchangeably and to provide more
support for the *status quo.* Thus, the question will became a simple
matter of taste and habit.

Best regards

-- 
Aurelio De Rosa
email: aurelioderosa at gmail.com
email:  a.derosa at audero.it
website: www.audero.it
user group: ug.audero.it