I wouldn't worry about page bloat from your semantics. Text is cheap (bloat-wise). One small image will add more bloat then all of your semantic markup.
Also, don't mix up the content markup (XHTML) with the content display (CSS). Getting the markup right is much more important. Luckily (IMHO) you have a very small palette (~15 tags) to work with. Remember that by using CSS the user doesn't "see" your markup. So use <dt>Posts:</dt> <dd>34</dd> if you think that properly captures the semantics. Chris > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Paul Bryson > Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 1:56 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [WSG CMS] Semantic Forums > > I see they used exactly what I was thinking, so if I am crazy > I am not alone. My concern in adding extra semantics is page > bloat and complexity. Is it worth it to add to page size and > complexity if it doesn't add anything to the end user > experience? I'll risk page complexity and size to fix > incorrect semantics, but if the semantics are correct, how > much to you risk to make it more correct? I feel like I'm in > Philosophy 101. > > <dt>Posts:</dt> <dd>34</dd> > versus > <li>Posts: 34</li> > > In this example, neither is wrong. The use of a definition > list is certainly more correct, but it makes the size bigger > (27 bytes vs. 18 bytes) and the code less human readable. > > Even using a definition list, it becomes even more complex > because how do you make a line break for the next dt if you > want the number of posts inline with the title Posts, without > using a <br/>? float:left it? Bleh. On the other hand it > offers the possibility to visually distinguish between the > two like making "Posts" bold. > > Is it worth it? > > > Paul > Please forgive the top posting, stupid OE. > > > ________________________________ > > > > > From: Christian Montoya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2005 16:39:51 -0500 > Subject: Re: [WSG CMS] Semantic Forums > > > > ________________________________ > > > > > > On 12/5/05, Paul Bryson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Is there another method I should look at? > > > > Also, how should the poster's information be > segregated? Currently I just > > use a list. But I considered a few different > methods. I also thought about > > using headings and making them inline so something like: > > > > <h3>Posts:</h3><p>34</p> > > or > > <dt>Posts:</dt><dd>34</dd> > > > > But that almost seems like overkill. I've been > looking at this so long, > > things are not making much sense anymore. > > I think you should see what Lussumo did with Vanilla Forum: > http://getvanilla.com/ > > The example is here: http://lussumo.com/community/ > > They used definition lists... a neat idea. > > And don't think semantic solutions are overkill. If it makes the > document more semantic, and it doesn't change the > visual appearance, > what are you killing? > > -- > -- > Christian Montoya > christianmontoya.com ... rdpdesign.com ... cssliquid.com > > ********************************************************* The CMS discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ *********************************************************
