This is part 1 of 2. Part 2 is my Guide to the use of Semantic
HTML Elements I’ve seen a lot of articles discussing the
importance of HTML and XHTML semantics. I’ve seen articles
describing what it means for a document to be semantic. Most of
these articles, however, don’t provide a serious overview of
what HTML elements actually may be considered semantic — and
what those semantic elements actually mean. And, even more
particularly, why it matters. Semantics is an erudite area of
study. Literally, semantics can be fairly defined as the study
of meaning in communication. Communication can readily be
extended to cover symbolic notations, representations of
language, organization of language, body language and
information structures. In developing a web page, we are
organizing a means to communicate the content of that page:
ideally, we are organizing the page in such a manner that it
will be understood regardless of the method by which the page is
accessed. It should be equally understandable whether seen, hea