Hi Dwain
I try to avoid using spans as much as possible. It's not that they are bad,
but that they could be avoided in many instances.
It takes me back to something that an editor once taught me. She said that I
should think twice before using the word "that". It can usually be removed
and the sentence written more efficiently. I took that advice to heart and
use it the same way that I would code using spans.
Get the idea? A page full of spans is like a paragraph full of "that"s.
Think twice before using a span. Should this section be a header, link or a
definition list? If not, feel free to use a span. It is great for changing
small sections of inline text.
I also like to use spans creatively with CSS. <a href="">blah
<span> </span></a>. Use absolute positioning to place the span at the
top of the page, make it a block and place a background image to create a
secondary link on another part of the page (Was this from Andy Budd or
Stopdesign?)
I've also used spans <h3>blah <span>edit</span><h3> to take the edit or
whatever text and do something different with it, such as float it to the
right. Remember, you don't need to put a class on your spans.
If you use your spans sparingly and selectively, you can just target them by
their parents:
a span, dt span, label span {font-weight:normal;}
h3 span {float:right;}
Have fun with that there tag.
Ted
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 6:46 AM
To: wsg
Subject: [WSG] html design - best practices
hello,
i've been lurking for a while and commenting occasionally, and i
appreciate the change of venue. i am a designer learning about
development. i have become more interested in web standards for the
past year. thanks for the post about westciv (x)html class, i feel that
i am ready for it now.
here's my question. i have a page with text that i want highlighted. i
currently have the text in "<a>text</a>" and styled with css. what is
the best practice, semantically, to achieve this, as <strong> is not
what i want, because i don't want someone to get yelled at by their
screen reader. i guess what i am looking to do is emphasize the text so
it will stand out on the page and be treated the same by a screen
reader. is this what the <em> tag is for?
dwain
--
Dwain Alford
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.alforddesigngroup.com
"The artist may use any form which his expression demands;
for his inner impulse must find suitable expression."
Wassily Kandinsky, "Concerning The Spiritual In Art"
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