Please, Use Convenient Naming in HTML!

Jonathan Snook has written a great post that I have commented as a “succint statement of validation” regarding the over/use of DIV’s in a web site.

Like many coders who layout their plans on paper first, I carefully decide what the DIVs will be entitled for the remainder of their lifetime online.

Some have standard names like #header and #footer, whereas some have names specific to their content: #flickr and #delicious. It makes sense, and helps me to remember and search within my own code. A good designer will understand that reasoning.

Interestingly, I have seen (cough yes I read your HTML cough) a lot of HTML that has DIV’s named such strange names: “#part_one, #part_two, etc” or “#A001, #A002“.

This might work for the designer who believes he/she will be the first and last person to EVER maintain that site: But what if you intend to give the client ownership of the site and the ability to amend their own code? Or you are an employee of a large corporation – and you leave?

Therefore it is a great idea to name DIV’s that others will understand.

There are many articles around the net that suggest that <!– commenting –> is the ideal way to assist when others are editing your work: I concur. But don’t overdo it.

There are other interesting sites that include such comments as <!– Herein lies the CSS and HTML of Roger Rabbit. Don’t rip, steal, crack or break it. –>. Stupid really. That’s just inviting the inevitable. And how the hell are you going to police it?

Jonathan’s post originated from Nate Koechley’s article on a similar vein, also very interesting reading on the subject. Nate talks of an error that I was doing in my early days: “… each ‘paragraph’ of content in a <div class=”p”> element … ” Doh! Not a good idea.

I found that blogger allowed no other option. Thankfully I now understand the error of my way and know how to beat that problem.

But enough about bad history. The future is here. And DIV’s are here to stay.