What are we going to be talking about?

• Discussing ways HTML can be used to add meaning to content
• Increasing vocabulary - say what you really mean ("I went to the beach and it was really good")
• Why take a "down to earth" approach?
  • Never going to get 100% consensus
  • Diminishing returns
    • You can achieve a lot with a little, or
    • You can spend forever getting nowhere - "the endless spiral"
  • Many clients/bosses/users are only interested in visual aspects. A lot of the time semantic markup is of limited value to visual browsers where meaning is conveyed largely by presentation.
  • Future proofing & forwards compatibility?
• Semantic markup is useful so long as there is a specific use or benefit
  • Common Browsers
  • Assistive technology such as screen readers
  • Non-human content consumers - such as Google