2011 » Eric Feminella

Configuring iOS HTTP Monitoring

When developing Web Applications for the Mobile Web Experience it is often useful to have a clear view into all HTTP requests and responses sent between the client and server. This is quite simple to accomplish when developing Web Applications for the Desktop as, the browser is running locally so any standard HTTP Monitor will suffice. And, while it is a normal part of a typical development workflow to run an application locally the majority of the time, testing on each target device is obviously an essential part of the process as well.

Luckily, with Charles, on iOS this is quite simple to accomplish.

Configuration

To configure Charles to proxy all requests from an iOS device, simply follow these basic steps:

From your iOS Device, open Settings.
Go to Wi-Fi, select your Network and select the Blue “arrow” icon.
Scroll to HTTP Proxy and select the Manual Button.
In the Server field, enter the IP address of your development machine.
In the port field, enter port 8888 (the default port to which Charles binds).
Leave Authentication set to Off.

And that’s all there is to it. Now, open Mobile Safari and go to your Web Application’s URL (or any page on the web for that matter). On your development machine, in Charles you will receive a prompt with the IP Address of your Mobile Device, click “Allow” and you are all set. When you are done working, make sure to turn off HTTP Proxy on your device.

Additional Note

While this article may be focused on Mobile Web Applications, these same configurations apply to all HTTP traffic from any application on your device that requires resources over the web.

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External Templates in jQote2

The jQote2 API Reference provides plenty of useful examples which are sure to help users get up and running quickly. I found it a bit unclear, though, as to how templates could be loaded externally as, in the reference examples, templates are defined within the containing page. For the sake of simplicity this approach certainly makes sense in the context of examples. However, in practice, templates would ideally be loaded externally.

While jQote2 provides a perfect API for templating, it does not provide a method specifically for loading external templates; this is likely due to the fact that loading external templates could easily be accomplished natively in jQuery. However, since this is a rather common development use case, having such a facility available would be quite useful.

After reviewing the comments I came across a nice example from aefxx (the author of jQote2) which demonstrated a typical approach to loading external templates which was simular to what I had been implementing myself.

And so, I wrote a simple jQuery Plug-in which provides a tested, reusable solution for loading external templates. After having leveraged the Plugin on quite a few different projects, I decided to open source it as others may find it useful as well.

Using the Plugin

Using the jQote2 Template Loader plugin is rather straight forward. Simply include jQuery, jQote2 and the jquery.jqote2.loader-min.js script on your page.

As a basic example, assume a file named example.tpl exists, which contains the following template definition:

<script type="text/html" id="articles_tpl">
    <![CDATA[
        <% var article, i, n;
           
           for ( i = 0, n = this.articles.length; i < n; i++ ) {
                 article = this.articles[i]; 
         %>
            <article>
                <header>
                    <h1><%= article.name %></h1>
                </header>
                <p><%= article.text %></p>
            </article>
        <% } %>
    ]]>
</script>

<![CDATA[

<% var article, i, n;

for ( i = 0, n = this.articles.length; i < n; i++ ) {

article = this.articles[i];

</header>

</article>

<% } %>

]]>

</script>

We can load the example.tpl template file described above via $.jqoteload as follows:

$.jqoteload( 'example.tpl', function( templates )
{
    // create some mock articles...
    var articles = [ { name: 'Article A', text: 'Articles A test...'},
                     { name: 'Article B', text: 'Articles B test...'},
                     { name: 'Article C', text: 'Articles C test...'} ];
    // Render the articles...
    $('#articles').jqoteapp( templates.articles_tpl, { 'articles': articles } );
});

$.jqoteload( 'example.tpl', function( templates )

{

// create some mock articles...

var articles = [ { name: 'Article A', text: 'Articles A test...'},

{ name: 'Article B', text: 'Articles B test...'},

{ name: 'Article C', text: 'Articles C test...'} ];

// Render the articles...

$('#articles').jqoteapp( templates.articles_tpl, { 'articles': articles } );

});

After example.tpl has been loaded, from another context we can access the compiled templates via their template element id. In this example "articles_tpl".

//... within some other context, access the same compiled template
var template = $.jqoteret( 'articles_tpl' );

//... within some other context, access the same compiled template

var template = $.jqoteret( 'articles_tpl' );

You can grab the source and view the example over on the jQote2 Template Loader Github page.

December 12, 2011 AJAX / APIs / Design Patterns / HTML5 / JavaScript / jQuery / Template Engines

3 comments

DHTMLX Touch 1.0 Released

Last week, shortly after I blogged about the release of jQuery Mobile 1.0, I received an email informing me of the release of another Mobile Web Framework: DHTMLX Touch 1.0.

Being that I was unfamiliar with DHTMLX Touch (as I have been using jQuery Mobile almost exclusively), I was quite interested to learn more; and, having tried the Examples and reviewed the Documentation, I was rather impressed by DHTMLX Touch.

And so, if you haven’t already, check it out.

November 23, 2011 AJAX / Android / HTML5 / iPad / iPhone / JavaScript / Mobile / Mobile Web

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Function Overwriting in JavaScript

Whether intentional, or simply a by-product of it’s design, Javascript, being a dynamic language, allows for a level of expressiveness which most any seasoned programmer would come to appreciate. Javascript naturally provides the ability to implement some rather intriguing and quite unique patterns; one of which is the ability to overwrite a function at runtime.

Function Overwriting

Function Overwriting (also known as “Self-Defining Functions” or “Lazy Defining Functions”) provides a pattern which, as stated above, allows for overwriting a function’s definition at runtime. This can be accomplished from outside of the function, but also from within the function’s implementation itself.

For example, on occasion a function may need to perform some initial piece of work, after which, all subsequent invocations would result in unnecessarily re-executing the initialization code. Typically, this issue is addressed by storing initialization flags or refactoring the initialization code to another function. While such a design solves this problem, it does result in unnecessary code which will need to be maintained. In JavaScript, perhaps a different approach is in order: we can simply redefine the function after the initialization work has been completed.

A possible candidate use-case for Function Overwriting is Feature Detection as, detecting for specific feature support in the Browser typically only needs to be tested once, at which point subsequent tests are unnecessary.

Below is a basic example of implementing Function Overwritting in the context of an abstraction of the HTML5 Geolocation API.

// Initial "getLocation" implementation. Since we only need to test
// for Geolocation support once, we perform the initial test and then
// overwrite the "getLocation" implementation based on the results of
// the test.
var getLocation = function ( success, fail, options )
{
    var geolocation = navigator.geolocation;

    if ( geolocation )
    {
        var _options = {
            enableHighAccuracy : true,
            timeout            : 60000,
            maximumAge         : 0
        };
        // Geolocation is supported, so we overwrite the implementation
        // to simply invoke "geolocation.getCurrentPosition" as there 
        // is no need to perform the test again.
        getLocation = function (success, fail, options)
        {
            geolocation.getCurrentPosition ( success, 
                    fail, 
                    options || _options);
        }
        getLocation( success, fail, options );
    }
    else 
    {
        // Geolocation is not supported, so we overwrite the 
        // implementation to simply return false (a real 
        // implementation might provide a polyfill here...).
        getLocation = function ()
        {
            return false;
        }
    }        
};

// Initial "getLocation" implementation. Since we only need to test

// for Geolocation support once, we perform the initial test and then

// overwrite the "getLocation" implementation based on the results of

// the test.

var getLocation = function ( success, fail, options )

{

var geolocation = navigator.geolocation;

if ( geolocation )

{

var _options = {

enableHighAccuracy : true,

timeout : 60000,

maximumAge : 0

};

// Geolocation is supported, so we overwrite the implementation

// to simply invoke "geolocation.getCurrentPosition" as there

// is no need to perform the test again.

getLocation = function (success, fail, options)

{

geolocation.getCurrentPosition ( success,

fail,

options || _options);

}

getLocation( success, fail, options );

}

else

{

// Geolocation is not supported, so we overwrite the

// implementation to simply return false (a real

// implementation might provide a polyfill here...).

getLocation = function ()

{

return false;

}

};

Considerations

Since functions are objects in Javascript, it is important to keep in mind that if you add a property or method to a function (either statically or via the function’s prototype), and then overwrite the function, you will have effectively removed those properties or methods as well. Also, if the function is referenced by another variable, or by a method of another object, the initially defined implementation will be preserved and the overwriting process will not occur. As such, be mindful when implementing this pattern. As a general rule of thumb, I typically only implement Function Overwriting when the function being redefined is in a private scope.

Concluding Thoughts

As you can see, Function Overwriting provides a convenient facility for optimizing code execution at runtime. There are many use-cases for dynamically overwriting functions and, where appropriate, they can certainly provide value in terms of performance and code maintainability.

Below you can find an example which demonstrates two basic Function Overwriting implementations. Simply load the page and add some breakpoints in Firebug to test the execution paths; both before and after overwriting each function occurs, or you can simply view the source.
Example

November 19, 2011 Browsers / Design Patterns / HTML5 / JavaScript / Object Oriented Design / Refactoring

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Refreshing listviews in jQuery Mobile

When dynamically creating or updating a list in jQuery Mobile; either via AJAX or by other means, one must take care to explicitly invoke the target listview widget to “refresh” in order to instruct the framework to apply the augmented markup and styles to the corresponding elements of the underlying list.

For example, consider the following simplified example which creates an li element for each item in an Array:

var list = "",
    items = [{name: "Item A", url: "/#item-a"}, 
             {name: "Item B", url: "/#item-b"}, 
             {name: "Item C", url: "/#item-c"}];

$.each( items, function( i, item ) {
    list += '<li><a href="' + item.url + '">';
    list += item.name;
    list += '</a></li>';
});
$("ul:jqmData(role='listview')").append( list );

var list = "",

items = [{name: "Item A", url: "/#item-a"},

{name: "Item B", url: "/#item-b"},

{name: "Item C", url: "/#item-c"}];

$.each( items, function( i, item ) {

list += '<li><a href="' + item.url + '">';

list += item.name;

list += '</a></li>';

});

$("ul:jqmData(role='listview')").append( list );

While this will create the list items and add them to the target listview ul element, JQM will not auto enhance the newly added items unless instructed to do so. I imagine this is due to a necessary design decision as, constantly monitoring the DOM for changes would certainly incur a performance hit.

In order to correct this, we just need to invoke .listview("refresh"); after appending the new elements to the list. This will notify JQM to apply the expected enhancements. And so, the following example will result in the expected list enhancements being applied:

var list = "",
    items = [{name: "Item A", url: "/#item-a"}, 
             {name: "Item B", url: "/#item-b"}, 
             {name: "Item C", url: "/#item-c"}];

$.each( items, function( i, item ) {
    list += '<li><a href="' + item.url + '">';
    list += item.name;
    list += '</a></li>';
});
$("ul:jqmData(role='listview')").append( list ).listview("refresh");

var list = "",

items = [{name: "Item A", url: "/#item-a"},

{name: "Item B", url: "/#item-b"},

{name: "Item C", url: "/#item-c"}];

$.each( items, function( i, item ) {

list += '<li><a href="' + item.url + '">';

list += item.name;

list += '</a></li>';

});

$("ul:jqmData(role='listview')").append( list ).listview("refresh");

You can try an example which demonstrates both of the above implementations here.

November 18, 2011 AJAX / APIs / HTML5 / JavaScript / jQuery / jQuery Mobile

5 comments

jQuery Mobile 1.0 Released

Today, the jQuery Mobile Team announced the official release of jQuery Mobile 1.0.

Having worked with jQuery Mobile since Alpha 1, in the time since, the framework has certainly evolved into a mature, premier platform on which Mobile Web Applications can be built.

On a personal note, as I am currently in the process of working towards the release of a multi form-factor Mobile Web Application built on jQuery Mobile, the 1.0 release couldn’t have come at a better time.

Be sure to check out the updated API Docs, especially the new Data Attributes section.

jQuery Mobile 1.0 represents a significant milestone in the Mobile Web Space. I am certainly excited to see what is on the roadmap next.

November 17, 2011 AJAX / Browsers / CSS3 / HTML5 / iPad / iPhone / JavaScript / jQuery / Mobile Web / News / Tablets

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CSS3 Combinators

In my previous article on CSS3 Selectors, I discussed the two Attribute Selector classifications; Attribute Presence and Value Selectors, and, Attribute Substring Matching Selectors.

In addition to the new Attribute Selectors, the CSS3 Selectors Module defines a new Combinator called the General sibling combinator, which is described below, succeeding a review of each CSS3 Combinator.

Combinators

Combinators provide a means for describing relationships between elements in order to “combine” them to form specific rules based on a simple syntax. There are four Combinators in CSS3, below is description and example of each:

Descendant combinator

The most familiar of all Combinators, the Descendant combinator allows for selecting any element f which is a descendant (child, grandchild, great-grandchild and so on) of an element e. The combinator syntax for a Descendant combinator is a single “white-space” character.

/* Matches all <h1> elements which are descendants of an <article> element */
article h1{
    /* declarations */
}

/* Matches all <h1> elements which are descendants of an <article> element */

article h1{

/* declarations */

}

8.1. Descendant combinator

Child combinators

Child combinators allow for selecting any element f which is a direct child of an element e. The combinator syntax for a Child combinator is a single “greater-than” (>) sign.

/* Matches each <section> element that is a child of an <article> element */
article > section {
    /* declarations */
}

/* Matches each <section> element that is a child of an <article> element */

article > section {

/* declarations */

}

8.2. Child combinator

Adjacent sibling combinator

The Adjacent sibling combinator is a Sibling combinator which allows for selecting an element f which is adjacent to an element e; that is, element f immediately follows element e in the document tree. The combinator syntax for an Adjacent sibling combinator is a single “plus” (+) sign.

/* Matches all <em> elements which are the next sibling of a <strong> element */
strong + em {
    /* declarations */
}

/* Matches all <em> elements which are the next sibling of a <strong> element */

strong + em {

/* declarations */

}

8.3.1. Adjacent sibling combinator

General sibling combinator

New in CSS3, the General sibling combinator is similar to the Adjacent sibling combinator in that it matches an element f which follows an element e in the document tree; however, whereas in the Adjacent sibling combinator element f must immediately follow element e, the General sibling combinator allows for selecting an element f which is preceded by an element e, but not necessarily immediately preceded by an element e. The combinator syntax for a General sibling combinator is a single “tilde” (~) sign.

/* Matches all <time> elements which are preceded by a <del> element */
del ~ time {
    /* declarations */
}

/* Matches all <time> elements which are preceded by a <del> element */

del ~ time {

/* declarations */

}

8.3.2. General sibling combinator

The following link provides a (rather crude in terms of design) example of each Combinator described above:

View Example

November 13, 2011 Browsers / CSS3 / HTML5 / JavaScript / Mobile Web

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CSS3 Attribute Selectors

The power of CSS Selectors can not be understated; for, without them, there would be no simple means by which developers could target specific elements for styling in a manner abstracted from, or external to, the actual markup to which the styles will bind.

In addition to some of the more common Simple Selectors, such as Type Selectors, Class Selectors and Id Selectors, we have have Attribute Selectors, which, as the name implies, allow us to match elements based on their attributes.

Attribute Presence and Value Selectors

CSS2 introduced four Attribute Selectors; referred to as Attribute Presence and Value Selectors, which allow for course grained matching of specific elements based on their attributes and / or attribute values. These include the following:

e[attr]

Where e is an element and [attr] is an attribute of element e. For example, p[title] would match all p tags with a title, regardless of the value of the title.

/* Matches all <p> tags with a title and changes their background color 
   to red with white text */
p[title]{
    background-color: red;
    color: white;
}

/* Matches all <p> tags with a title and changes their background color

to red with white text */

p[title]{

background-color: red;

color: white;

}

e[attr=val]

Where e is an element and [attr=val] represent an attribute of element e which contains the exact value of val. For example, p[title="Example 1"] would match all p tags with a title which equals “Example 1″ exactly.

/* Matches all <p> tags with a title equal to "Example 1" and changes
   their background color to green and text color to white */
p[title="Example 1"]{
    background-color: green;
    color: white;
}

/* Matches all <p> tags with a title equal to "Example 1" and changes

their background color to green and text color to white */

p[title="Example 1"]{

background-color: green;

color: white;

}

e[attr~=val]

Where e is an element and [attr~=val] is an attribute of element e which has a value containing a whitespace-separated list of words, one of which equals val exactly. For example, p[title~="Example-1a"] would match all p tags with a title containing the word “Example-1a” in a list of whitespace delimited words.

/* Matches all <p> tags with a title containing the exact word to "Example-1a" 
   and changes their background color to black and text color to red */
p[title~="Example-1a"]{
    background-color: black;
    color: red;
}

/* Matches all <p> tags with a title containing the exact word to "Example-1a"

and changes their background color to black and text color to red */

p[title~="Example-1a"]{

background-color: black;

color: red;

}

e[attr|=val]

Where e is an element and [attr|=val] is an attribute of element e that has a value of val exactly, or begins with val immediately followed by a hyphen “-”. For example, p[title!="Example"] would match all p tags with a title containing the word “Example-”, followed by any other value, such as “Example-1″, “Example-A”, etc..

/* Matches all <p> tags with a title containing the word to "Example-" and 
   changes their background color to blue and text color to white */
p[title|="Example"]{
    background-color: blue;
    color: white;
}

/* Matches all <p> tags with a title containing the word to "Example-" and

changes their background color to blue and text color to white */

p[title|="Example"]{

background-color: blue;

color: white;

}

View Example

Substring Matching Attribute Selectors

In addition to the above Attribute Presence and Value Selectors, CSS3 expands on this by defining three additional Attribute Selectors; referred to as Substring Matching Attribute Selectors. These additions allow for fine grained matching of specific elements based on their attribute values.

In simplest terms, the new Attribute Selectors in CSS3 can be used to match an element with a given attribute whose value begins, ends or contains a certain value. The following is a basic description and example of each new Attribute Selector:

e[attr^=val]

Where e is an element and [attr^=val] is an attribute of element e which contains a value that begins with val.

/* Matches all linked resources sent over https */
a[href^="https"]{
    color: red;
}

/* Matches all linked resources sent over https */

a[href^="https"]{

color: red;

}

e[attr$=val]

Where e is an element and [attr$=val] represent an attribute of element e which contains a value that ends with val.

/* Matches all anchor tags to .html documents */
a[href$=".html"]{
    color: green;
}

/* Matches all anchor tags to .html documents */

a[href$=".html"]{

color: green;

}

e[attr*=val]

Where e is an element and [attr*=val] is an attribute of element e which has a value that contains val.

/* Matches all anchor tags which contain a query string */
a[href*="?"]{
    color: blue;
}

/* Matches all anchor tags which contain a query string */

a[href*="?"]{

color: blue;

}

View Example

To summarize, there are a total of seven Attribute Selectors in CSS3, three of which are new. Whether used for general matches, such as global Attributes; e.g. *[hreflang|=en] or more specific matches, such as chaining; e.g, a[href^="https"][target="_blank"], Attribute Selectors provide a powerful mechanism for selecting both general and specific content within a page.

November 10, 2011 Browsers / CSS3 / HTML5 / JavaScript / jQuery / Mobile / Mobile Web

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CSS3 selection pseudo-element (dropped)

With both the CSS3 Selectors and CSS3 Namespaces Modules, respectively, having been released as official W3C recommendations (Selectors, Namespaces), I felt compelled to re-review each specification.

Interestingly, while reviewing the CSS3 Selectors Module (my personal favorite), I noticed that the selection pseudo-element selector which was originally drafted for CSS3 had been dropped from the proposal. In fact, it was dropped a rather long time ago.

In case you are not familiar with the selection pseudo-element, essentially it allows for defining the text color and background-color of selected text within a document.

For example, all <code> elements on my site have a red background with white text when selected – such as this text here (select it) – based on the following two simple rules:

// IE, Chrome, Safari, Opera
code::selection { background: #ca3131; color:#fff; }
code::-moz-selection { background: #ca3131; color:#fff; }

// IE, Chrome, Safari, Opera

code::selection { background: #ca3131; color:#fff; }

code::-moz-selection { background: #ca3131; color:#fff; }

And so, while having been dropped, support is already rather good (FF3.6, SA3.1+, OP9.5+, CH2+, IE9) and as far as I am aware Browser vendors will continue to support ::selection.

November 2, 2011 CSS3 / HTML5

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HTML5 Structural Elements

The Semantic Web is not a separate Web but an extension of the current one, in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation.
- Tim Berners-Lee

The HTML5 Specification introduces many new semantic elements intended to provide meaning to the structure of a document. These elements are quite important as they allow for marking up a document in meaningful ways which, prior to HTML5, would have otherwise required a rather ambiguous markup consisting primarily of divs and ids to provide semantic structure.

Being purely markup based, it is understandable why these new semantic elements may not excite as much interest as many of the more attention grabbing HTML5 specifications, such as audio, video, Web Workers, WebSockets, Web Storage etc. However, it is important, perhaps even necessary, to emphasize the significance these new elements present in terms of helping to solidify the realization of what the web is intended to be: an open medium for disseminating homogeneous and heterogeneous information.

With this in mind, combined with an informed understanding of the context in which each new semantic element can be applied, overtime the Web will (quite naturally) evolve in many new, exciting and perhaps previously unthought-of ways.

Broadly, the new semantic elements introduced in HTML5 can be succinctly summarized as follows:

The <header> Element

The <header> element is rather self explanatory in that it allows for defining content which is to be denoted as a header of a page, or a header within a section of a page. Headers typically provide introductory and / or navigational content via hgroup and nav elements. What is important to keep in mind is that multiple <header> elements can be defined per page.

<header>
    <h1>Some Blog</h1>
    <h2>Some Blog Description</h2>
    <p>Last Modified: <time>2011-10-19</time></p>
</header>

<h2>Some Blog Description</h2>

<p>Last Modified: <time>2011-10-19</time></p>

</header>

W3C Specification (section 4.4.8)

The <nav> Element

The <nav> element represents an important section of navigational links to specific pages or specific sections within the current page. As such, not all navigational links need be defined within a <nav>.

<header>
    <h1>Some Blog</h1>
    <h2>Some Blog Description</h2>
    <p>Last Modified: <time>2011-10-19</time></p>
    <nav>
        <h1>Navigation</h1>
        <ul>
            <li><a href="home.php">Home</a></li>
            <li><a href="about.php">About</a></li>
            <li><a href="contact.php">Contact</a></li>
        </ul>
    </nav>
</header>

<h2>Some Blog Description</h2>

<p>Last Modified: <time>2011-10-19</time></p>

<nav>

<h1>Navigation</h1>

<ul>

<li><a href="about.php">About</a></li>

<li><a href="contact.php">Contact</a></li>

</ul>

</nav>

</header>

W3C Specification (section 4.4.3)

The <article> Element

The <article> element provides a means by which content can be represented independently from the document or application with which it is associated. General examples could include, as one may have guessed, an article from a newspaper, a blog post, a comment on a blog post, a self contained UI widget, and so forth.

<article>
    <header>
        <h1>Some Post</h1>
        <p><time pubdate>2011-10-02</time></p>
    </header>
    <p>This is a simple example of the article element.</p>
    <p>...</p>
</article>

</header>

<p>This is a simple example of the article element.</p>

</article>

W3C Specification (section 4.4.4)

The <section> Element

The <section> element defines generic sections of a document, article or entire application. The section element is intended to provide semantics for a document and is not intended to be used as a container for styling purposes, in which case a <div> element should be used.

<article>
    <header>
        <h1>Some Post</h1>
        <p><time pubdate>2011-10-02</time></p>
    </header>
    <p>This is a simple example of the article element.</p>
    <p>...</p>
    <section>
        <h1>Comments</h1>
        <article>
            <header>
                <p>Posted by: Eric Feminella</p>
                <p><time>2011-10-1</time></p>
            </header>
            <p>Nice post, simple enough!</p>
        </article>
    </section>
    <section>
        <h1>Categories</h1>
        <span><a href="/html5">HTML5</a></span>
    </section>
</article>

</header>

<p>This is a simple example of the article element.</p>

<h1>Comments</h1>

<p>Posted by: Eric Feminella</p>

</header>

<p>Nice post, simple enough!</p>

</article>

</section>

<h1>Categories</h1>

</section>

</article>

W3C Specification (section 4.4.2)

The <aside> Element

The <aside> element represents content which is relevant to, or supportive of it’s surrounding content, but is not required to convey the information set forth by the surrounding content. General examples could include a pull quote, a blog roll, a sidebar etc.

<article>
    <header>
        <h1>Some Post</h1>
        <p><time pubdate>2011-10-02</time></p>
    </header>
    <p>This is a simple example of the article element.</p>
    <p>...</p>
    <section>
        <h1>Comments</h1>
        <article>
            <header>
                <p>Posted by: Eric Feminella</p>
                <p><time>2011-10-1</time></p>
            </header>
            <p>Nice post, simple enough!</p>
        </article>
    </section>
    <aside>
       <h1>Categories</h1>
       <span><a href="/html5">HTML5</a></span>
    </aside>
    <aside>
       <ul id="tags">
          <li><a href="semantics/">semantics</a></li>
          <li><a href="elements/">elements</a></li>
          <li>...</li>
       </ul>
    </aside>
</article>

</header>

<p>This is a simple example of the article element.</p>

<h1>Comments</h1>

<p>Posted by: Eric Feminella</p>

</header>

<p>Nice post, simple enough!</p>

</article>

</section>

<aside>

<h1>Categories</h1>

</aside>

<aside>

<li><a href="semantics/">semantics</a></li>

<li><a href="elements/">elements</a></li>

</ul>

</aside>

</article>

W3C Specification (section 4.4.5)

The <footer> Element

As with the <header> element, the <footer> element is rather self explanatory in that it allows for defining content which is to be denoted as a footer of a page, or a footer within a section element for it’s nearest ancestor. A page can contain multiple <footer> elements, each unique to a particular section.

<article>
    <header>
        <h1>Some Post</h1>
        <p><time pubdate>2011-10-02</time></p>
    </header>
    <p>This is a simple example of the article element.</p>
    <p>...</p>
    <section>
        <h1>Comments</h1>
        <article>
            <header>
                <p>Posted by: Eric Feminella</p>
                <p><time>2011-10-1</time></p>
            </header>
            <p>Nice post, simple enough!</p>
        </article>
    </section>
    <aside>
       <h1>Categories</h1>
       <span><a href="/html5">HTML5</a></span>
    </aside>
    <aside>
       <ul id="tags">
          <li><a href="semantics/">semantics</a></li>
          <li><a href="elements/">elements</a></li>
          <li>...</li>
       </ul>
    </aside>
    <footer>
        <div class="g-plusone" data-annotation="inline"></div>
    </footer>
</article>

</header>

<p>This is a simple example of the article element.</p>

<h1>Comments</h1>

<p>Posted by: Eric Feminella</p>

</header>

<p>Nice post, simple enough!</p>

</article>

</section>

<aside>

<h1>Categories</h1>

</aside>

<aside>

<li><a href="semantics/">semantics</a></li>

<li><a href="elements/">elements</a></li>

</ul>

</aside>

</footer>

</article>

W3C Specification (section 4.4.9)

Putting it all Together

The following example is comprised of each semantic element described above to form a complete, valid HTML5 document:

<!doctype html>
<html>
    <head>
        <meta charset="utf-8" />
        <title>HTML5 Semantic Structure Example</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        <header>
            <h1>Some Blog</h1>
            <h2>Some Blog Description</h2>
            <p>Last Modified: <time>2011-10-02</time></p>
            <nav>
                <h1>Navigation</h1>
                <ul>
                    <li><a href="home.php">Home</a></li>
                    <li><a href="about.php">About</a></li>
                    <li><a href="contact.php">Contact</a></li>
                </ul>
            </nav>
        </header>
        <article>
            <header>
                <h1>Some Post</h1>
                <p><time pubdate>2011-10-02</time></p>
            </header>
            <p>This is a simple example of the article element.</p>
            <p>â€¦</p>
            <section>
                <h1>Comments</h1>
                <article>
                    <header>
                        <p>Posted by: Eric Feminella</p>
                        <p><time>2011-10-13</time></p>
                    </header>
                    <p>Nice post, simple enough!</p>
                </article>
            </section>
            <aside>
                <h1>Categories</h1>
                <span><a href="/html5">HTML5</a></span>
            </aside>
            <aside>
                <ul id="tags">
                    <li><a href="semantics/">semantics</a></li>
                    <li><a href="elements/">elements</a></li>
                    <li>...</li>
                </ul>
            </aside>
            <footer>
                <div class="g-plusone" data-annotation="inline"></div>
            </footer>
        </article>
    </body>
</html>

<!doctype html>

<html>

<head>

<title>HTML5 Semantic Structure Example</title>

</head>

<body>

<h2>Some Blog Description</h2>

<p>Last Modified: <time>2011-10-02</time></p>

<nav>

<h1>Navigation</h1>

<ul>

<li><a href="about.php">About</a></li>

<li><a href="contact.php">Contact</a></li>

</ul>

</nav>

</header>

</header>

<p>This is a simple example of the article element.</p>

<h1>Comments</h1>

<p>Posted by: Eric Feminella</p>

</header>

<p>Nice post, simple enough!</p>

</article>

</section>

<aside>

<h1>Categories</h1>

</aside>

<aside>

<li><a href="semantics/">semantics</a></li>

<li><a href="elements/">elements</a></li>

</ul>

</aside>

</footer>

</article>

</body>

</html>

October 19, 2011 HTML5 / User Experience Design

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