[wp-hackers] Re: [wp-svn] [2476] trunk/wp-admin/quicktags.js:

[Matthew Thomas]

Matthew Mullenweg wrote:
 >...
> Perhaps -- is it better to use the 80/20 rule and say most people mean
 > strong/em when using b/i buttons (and those that know enough know how
 > to change it), or encourage the generic elements universally?

I'd prefer WordPress to follow the principle of "first do no harm". 
Using <i> when you really mean <cite> is unfortunate, but at least it 
isn't misleading. Using <em> when you really mean <cite> *is* misleading.

Having said that, this is all theoretical: the number of user agents 
that make useful distinctions between semantic and presentational markup 
right now is almost zero. (Even popular screenreaders piggyback on 
Internet Explorer for Windows, which doesn't make such distinctions.) 
And if enough people (and authoring tools) do cargo-cult conversions 
from presentational to incorrect semantic markup, semantic markup may 
well become so often misapplied that future user agents can never use it 
either.

-- 
Matthew Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/