Getting the Fundamentals Right: HTML
You can often read on different social media platforms, and many blog posts that HTML is not a programming language, therefore it's not taken seriously. Some may say it's not as important as people claim it to be, but let's remind ourselves when scrolling through our browser, that those claims and words are delivered by HTML, wrapped in HTML elements. This blog post explores HTML, its importance and purpose. If you haven't already, you can first read the first blog post of the series to get a clearer picture of the series' goal, but for now, let's dive right in.
What is HTML?
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, and it can be described as the most basic building block of the Web. "Hypertext" means that the text contains links, and "markup" refers to HTML's means of annotating text, images, and other content for display in a web browser. HTML is a language that web browsers understand, and it is used to structure content on the web.
The Anatomy of an HTML Element
HTML has a special syntax for defining fragments or elements of that content, and these are called tags. Each HTML element is composed of several parts: start tag, attributes, content and end tag.
In the example above, you can see that tags are enclosed in angle brackets, and
most tags come in pairs. You might also have noticed that the opening tag and
the closing tag are different only by the forward slash. This is because the
closing tag has a forward slash before the tag name. The content that is
enclosed between the opening and closing tags is the content that will be
displayed on the screen. Self-closing elements, like the <img> tag, don't have
an end tag, they don't have any content between tags, but instead rely solely on
attributes.
Attributes are used to provide additional information about the element. They
are included within the start tag and consist of a name-value pair, like in the
anchor tag above. The href attribute is used to specify the URL of the page,
and the value within the quotes is the URL itself. The target attribute is
used to specify where the linked document will be opened. The "_blank" value
tells the browser to open the linked document in a new tab or window.
To put it simply, HTML is a language for displaying content. Just like we would display content on a piece of paper with a pencil, we follow a similar order to have some content display on a screen. To complete this analogy, HTML is the graphite being left on the piece of paper, but we still need to talk about what exactly is our digital "paper".
Behind the Scenes
By defining the intended content via tags, we are sending a list to the browser, which is stored in C++, the low-level programming language in which the web browser is mostly built in, to determine what gets displayed on a page. The browser or rather the browser engine is responsible for parsing the list.
To be more precise, when talking about this list, it's actually more of an object. This is the first piece of our puzzle. Since it's a representation of the page, it's also a model, the second piece. With the advent of the Web, pages were actually called documents, since it was just list of links and text. This brings out to our final piece of the puzzle to build out the term Document Object Model (DOM). The DOM is a representation of the document, and it's a model that the browser uses to determine what gets displayed on the screen. That representation of a structure is shaped as a tree of nodes.
So, when an HTML page is loaded, the browser's rendering engine processes the
HTML markup, CSS, and JavaScript. The rendering engine builds the DOM tree from
the HTML, then the CSS is applied to the DOM, and we use JavaScript to interact
with it. Although we see the HTML parsing as a linear process, it actually
doesn't have to be, since scripts and styles within the HTML can alter the
document as it's being parsed. For example, a <script> tag, which we'll talk
about more in the JavaScript part of this series, might insert additional HTML
content into the DOM, or even remove some of it.
This whole process is not something that we should take for granted. It's a testament to the power of the web, and all the different pieces of technologies that had to fall into place to make this possible. Returning to the mental model from the introduction of this series—the house analogy—in it, the walls are necessary for all the other parts to have a place to be, or to have a purpose to serve. Sure, you could have the electrical wires suspended in the air or a bucket of paint spilled on the floor, but it's not a house. It's just a mess. There's no underyling structure which gives a platform for all the other components to shine. Now, that we have some idea of what's going on behind the scenes, it's time to talk about meaning, specifically the importance of meaning in HTML.
Semantics in HTML
Semantics is the study of meaning, and in the context of HTML, it refers to the meaning of the content and the meaning behind the tags that represent it or the lack of meaning when talking about generic HTML elements. This representation is clear to both the developer and the browser.
Examples of non-semantic elements are
<div> and
<span>.
These elements tell nothing about its content. They are mostly used as wrappers
for grouping different elements together or for styling a fragment of a text
within a paragraph or heading differently. Unfortunately, when not following the
best practices of meaningful semantic HTML, we may find ourselves cooking up a
<div> soup.
This term describes a page that is filled with <div> tags. Imagine the
following structure:
If no CSS classes (values within the class attribute) were applied, it would
be extremenly difficult to scan through the code and understand the structure of
the page. This is where semantic HTML comes into play. By using semantic HTML
elements, we can give meaning to the content and structure of the page. Let's
rewrite the above example using semantic HTML elements:
This is much easier to read and understand. It improves maintainability, performance, and quality. This is the type of code that we should strive to write. It's not only easier to read and understand, but it's also easier to maintain and debug. It's also more accessible to people with disabilities, and it's better for SEO. Writing semantic HTML creates an optimal web experience for everyone. You can find a list of all HTML elements on MDN.
Accessibility in HTML
Accessibility goes hand in hand with semantics. By writing semantic HTML, we are
using elements that clearly describe their meaning which enables the assistive
technologies to do their job to the best of their capabilities. For example, the
proper use of
headings
(<h1>, <h2>, <h3>, etc.) helps create a hierarchical structure for the
content. The use of the alt attribute in the
<img/> tag
provides a textual alternative to the image for screen readers. The use of the
<label> tag
in forms associates the label with the input field, making it easier for screen
readers to understand the form. By ensuring each form control has a unique id,
we can use the for attribute to associate the label to a form control. Using
fieldsets and legends to group related form controls together, as in the
following example, is also helpful.
By following these best practices, we can make the web more accessible to people with disabilities. This is important because the web should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities. It's our responsibility as developers to ensure that the web is accessible to everyone. A nice acronym for remembering to use semantically correct HTML is POSH, which stands for Plain Old Semantic HTML.
Enhancing HTML with Web APIs
HTML comes with a lot of elements that can be used to structure content, but with the continouos release of new web APIs Application Programming Interfaces, we can enhance our HTML and create impressive interfaces without having to reach for JavaScript.
Popover API
One such API is the Popover API which is a new web API that allows developers to create popovers. It's currently supported in all modern browsers. It can be controlled either via HTML attributes or JavaScript. When opting for the declarative option and HTML attributes, we can create a popover using the following code:
In the example above, we have a button that toggles the popover when clicked. We don't need to write any JavaScript to make this work. The Popover API takes care of everything for us.
<dialog> Element and Dialog API
Another example of a web API that enhances HTML is the Dialog API. The dialog
HTML element works since 2022 works in all browser. It's a
built-in modal or non-modal dialog box,
and it be controlled either via HTML attributes or JavaScript. With the open
attribute, the dialog is displayed when the page loads. We can use HTML <form>
elements to close the dialog by setting the method attribute to dialog. The
following code shows how to create a dialog using HTML attributes:
Some other features that come with the <dialog> element are the ability to
trap focus so the user can navigate through the dialog using the Tab key
without accidentally closing it, the ability to close the dialog by hitting the
Esc key, and the ability to close the dialog by clicking outside of it.
<details> and <summary> Elements
The
<details>
HTML element is used to create a disclosure widget which can be toggled open or
closed. The information is visible only when the widget is toggled open. The
contents within the <summary> element are used as the label of the widget. The
following code shows how to create a disclosure widget using the <details> and
<summary> elements:
<input> Enhancements
The <input> element has been enhanced with new attributes without needing
JavaScript, and they are the following:
type="date"which provides a date picker.type="color"which provides a color picker.type="range"which provides slider control.patternhelps us to validate the input field using a regular expression.requiredmakes the input field required within a form.minandmaxdefine the minimum and maximum values for numerical inputs.
HTML Fragments with the <template> Element
The
<template>
HTML element is used to declare fragments of HTML that can be instantiated
later. This allows for reusable HTML snippets which can be used later with
JavaScript or it can be generated immediately into the (shadow
DOM)[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_components/Using_shadow_DOM].
<datalist> Element
Sometimes we need to provide a list of options to the user, and the
<datalist>
element is perfect for this use case. It provides a list of predefined options
that can autocomplete the input field. By typing into the bound <input>
element, you can easily filter out options that match your wanted input. The
connection is established via the id attribute on the <datalist> element and
the list attribute on the <input> element which have to be of same value.
The following code shows how to create a list of options using the <datalist>
element:
It's important to note that the <datalist> element is not a form control, but
a list of predefined options. It also doesn't have full support in all browsers;
for example, Firefox has yet to implement it.
<meter> and <progress> Elements
The <meter>
and<progress>
elements are used to display progress bars. While they are almost identical,
there's a semantic difference in their use. The <meter> element is used to
display a scalar measurement within a known range and functions more like a
gauge. With <meter> we can denote low, high, and optimum values. On the other
hand, <progress> is used to display, as the name implies, progress of a
specific task at hand. It utilizes the max and value attributes to denote
the progress.
<meter><progress>Conclusion
HTML is the backbone of web development, providing the solid foundation necessary for building modern web applications. By writing semantic HTML, we keep up with web standards, make our code easier to read and understand, and create a better web experience for everyone. Reflect on how you use HTML in your projects—are there areas where you could improve semantics or accessibility?
In the next blog post of the series, we will be exploring CSS, the language used for styling the web.