The Good Life... a weblog about life, technology, and the Opera Web browser

Friends don't let friends write bad code

A while back, I received the following e-mail from a colleague:

This is an intervention.

The <q> element should only be used for quotations. To ensure correct usage of the <q> element, always use the "cite" attribute when using a <q> element (or a <blockquote> element). If there is no "cite" attribute that makes sense, then <q> is the wrong element.

I think we need to have more interventions like that on the Web. If you look a page's source and wince at the <table> elements used for layout or the gratuitous use of <div> elements, send the author an e-mail. Don't just squirm, do something about it. And certainly, certainly write good code yourself.

Disclaimer: I don't admit to writing 100% semantic code, but I know I've improved over the years, certainly due to hints from friends and colleagues. I also know that my current site isn't very semantic and I hope to fix that at some undisclosed point in the future when I move away from a canned theme.

PS: Naturally, I put the above quotation in a <blockquote> element. I can't cite the source, since it's from a private e-mail. Is that so wrong?

March 30, 2006

Comments

Note: Comments with a light blue background were made by the site owner.

I don't see how it could be

Posted by Frenzie on March 31, 2006 at 12:14am GMT

I don't see how it could be wrong to markup a quotation as a quotation if it's clearly one, but you can't name a source for some reason? However that is different from not being able to come up with a cite attribute at all, you merely can't use the one you come up with.

I guess the problem was that

Posted by Tim on March 31, 2006 at 6:16am GMT

I guess the problem was that I was using <q> for stuff like "Don't eat me!," where there's nothing to cite since I'm just writing what someone said.

Hmmm

Posted by Jeff Schiller on March 31, 2006 at 5:21am GMT

I can guess who that colleague is anyway ;)

Close. He's an

Posted by Tim on March 31, 2006 at 6:14am GMT

Close. ;) He's an ex-colleague now....

div elements

Posted by Luke Shingles on April 4, 2006 at 3:15am GMT

"...or the gratuitous use of <div> elements..."

There seems to be some false belief by web newbies that there's something magical about the CSS properties of div elements. It's just a generic block element, you could style any element exactly the same way. Adding more divs adds nothing to the page except wasted bytes. I always try to use as few of them as I possibly can.

You lazy boy. Enough

Posted by Moose on April 7, 2006 at 9:49pm GMT

|q cite="what mother said"|You lazy boy|/q|.

Enough said.

M.