[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #10465: The WYSIWYG editor buttons still don't do what they say they do

[WordPress Trac]

#10465: The WYSIWYG editor buttons still don't do what they say they do
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 Reporter:  albins        |       Owner:                
     Type:  defect (bug)  |      Status:  new           
 Priority:  lowest        |   Milestone:  Future Release
Component:  General       |     Version:                
 Severity:  normal        |    Keywords:                
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Changes (by micasuh):

 * cc: micasuh (added)


Comment:

 According to older HTML specs, '''<b>''' and '''<i>''' do not have
 semantic meaning and are purely presentational in value. In the working
 draft of HTML5, similarly to final drafts of XHTML 1.0, 1.1, and 5 (which
 do exist, will be supported for years to come, and upon which Wordpress'
 code is based) these tags must be used as a
 [http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html#the-b-element last]
 [http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html#the-i-element resort].

 While we debate the future of HTML and the direction in which it heads,
 '''<strong>''' and '''<em>''' should not lose functionality as default
 '''b''' and '''i''' buttons, respectively, in Wordpress considering what
 the specs say. These tags have semantic value, a proponent for using
 XHTML. Screen readers also recognize these tags correctly to properly
 emphasize their enclosed text audibly.

 According to
 [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1756437348670651505&ei=FbKRSaWVEpKwqwLO8bzHCw&q=strong+tag&hl=en#
 this video by Matt Cutts of Google], while '''<b>''' and '''<strong>'''
 have the same value according to Google, the W3 recommends using
 '''<strong>''' over '''<b>'''.


 > Since the <em> tag:
 >  1. Doesn't mean the contained text should be italicized, and

 The presentational view of the '''<em>''' tag is italicized by default.

 >  2. has semantic meaning rather than visual,

 This is the main argument for using '''<em>''' over '''<i>'''.

 > using <i> one thousand times too often (slightly ugly but not
 technically wrong) would be better than using <em> once too much (actually
 technically wrong).

 Using '''<i>''' one thousand times too often will hurt semantic value 1000
 times more than using '''<em>''' once too much.

 Both of Wordpress' websites use the more semantic markup, XHTML,  with
 presentation separate from content. It would be a step backwards to change
 the TinyMCE functionality to support the italics tag over the emphasize
 tag. Likewise with the bold tag over the strong tag.

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/10465#comment:3>
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