In a time where we have so many templates and frameworks to
choose from in designing and developing web sites, does it even matter any more
to know how to write good HTML?
It sure does. In fact, now more than ever.
Take mobile which is all that anyone ever talks about.
Sloppy, bloated code will slow the download speed of your pages. On cellular
networks that could be a site wrecker.
But I'm here not to tell you why but how to write HTML that
is smart, clean and brings goodness to web pages. (You will just have to trust
me on the why thing for now).
A hallmark of HTML is that it uses a very predictable
pattern. Once you understand it you will be on your way to properly using HTML.
Here's some pretty low hanging fruit to get your HTML coding
skills in much better shape.
1. Never Use A Container (tag) Without Content
Why would you?
Something like <p></p> is strictly verboten. If
you are thinking that will get you some white space forget it. That is what CSS
does.
With HTML, less is always better than more. Useless junk
like <p></p> is just that. Junk.
2. Use The Newer HTML5 Tags
This one is my personal bug-a-boo.
For years web page creators begged to have meaningful HTML
tags like
- <header>
- <footer>
- <article>
- <nav>
- <section>
and the like to get away from junk like:
- <div
id="header">
- <div
id="footer">
- <div
id="nav">
So, when I still see people using that old crappy markup I
just want to cry.
3. Never Have Your HTML Refer To Anything That Deals With
Style
If you are still doing things like
<img src="logo.gif" alt="Apple"
width="100" height="100" />
you can go ahead and lose the width and height attributes
right now. That's just more code bloat.
4. Using Heading Tags (H1 - H6) To Set Up An Information
Hierarchy For A Web Page
Good web content comes in the form of a hierarchy where the
information is grouped so that the most important content is presented at the
top of the page or section. Using Heading tags is a lot like setting up
Headlines and Sub heads for a page.
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