Hypertext Markup Language is a language, the clue is in the name. Languages have words and grammars, but can this way of looking at HTML help explain the importance of a semantic, standards-based approach to markup?

While validating markup is well on the way to being mainstream (try finding a web design job that doesn’t ask for it, there aren’t many left) I feel many people still miss the point. Some people treat validation as some sort of certificate to show the world that you know how to write HTML, it’s this misunderstanding that’s partly responsible for so many people choosing to remain with using tables for layouts. A similar situation can be found in traditional writing.

People often see use of good grammar as a nerdy thing that people only use to show how smart they are. As a result, a lot of people resist learning how to write properly. For most of us, words and grammar aren’t particularly interesting, afterall you only have to get things roughly correct in order for people to understand you, right? Whilst this has a degree of truth, it fails to consider the difficulty of communication. Grammar gives us an unambiguous means of forming sentences so that the meaning cannot be misunderstood. This isn’t easy – even professional writers don’t always manage to get their message across unambiguously. We’re fairly clever though, and can usually work out what somebody means even if they don’t follow the rules. If somebody says it’s a “mute point” we know that they meant “moot point,” if someone says they “could care less” they probably meant to say “couldn’t care less”. We learn through experience how to understand bad language, but it’s still more difficult than just understanding good language. If the use of language is really bad, we spend more time trying to understand what somebody is saying than we might spend actually considering the meaning.

By now you may understand the point I’m making. HTML is a language like any other (though much simpler than most). We can use the incorrect words like “table” for layout purposes, line breaks for lists, etc., and ultimately people (and web browsers) can still work out what it is you’re saying. But wouldn’t it be so much easier if people used the right words to produce meaningful sentences? You can make your sentences as pretty as you like (see any posters or fancy presentation), but this should enhance the meaning, not confuse it. Even if your web browser can render your tables markup that breaks the grammar of HTML, chances are that the same markup is making somebody else’s life more difficult. Switch to using HTML how it was intended. Don’t do it for the badge, do it in the name of making things easier.