I am the one posting the question on the help list. To me, the lack of html5 definition of main content, ie body copy in paper publishing, is a big mistake. Imagine the amount of sites where "everything else" includes a lot of unimportant extra, or peripheral, content. Content which is not necessarily hierarchically legible by a machine. Getting authors to be disciplined about defining main content is more important than being disciplined about <nav>, <footer>, <header>, <section> etc, in order not to negate the meaning of html5 structural mark-up. <div>
<br></div><div>Suggestion <bodycopy>... or, preferred, <bread>.</div><div><br></div><div>/Daniel<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 1:55 PM, Smylers <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Smylers@stripey.com">Smylers@stripey.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">The HTML5 spec should define how to mark up the main content on a page<br>
(even if the answer is "by omission"). This is something that many<br>
authors ask about, the latest example being today's thread on the help<br>
mailing list:<br>
<a href="http://lists.whatwg.org/htdig.cgi/help-whatwg.org/2010-June/000561.html" target="_blank">http://lists.whatwg.org/htdig.cgi/help-whatwg.org/2010-June/000561.html</a><br>
<br>
Please could this be added to the 'idioms' section, perhaps giving<br>
examples of when <article> or <section> might be appropriate as well as<br>
one in which the main content is simply that which isn't in <header>,<br>
<aside>, etc.<br>
<br>
Thanks.<br>
<br>
Smylers<br>
<font color="#888888">--<br>
<a href="http://twitter.com/Smylers2" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/Smylers2</a><br>
</font></blockquote></div><br></div>