Semantic Web
"Text search engines are of course good for searching the text in documents, but the Semantic Web isn't text documents, it is data. It isn't obvious what the killer apps will be - there are many contenders. We know that the sort of query you do on data is different: the SPARQL standard defines a query protocol which allows application builders to query remote data stores. So that is one sort of query on data which is different from text search.
One thing to always remember is that the Web of the future will have BOTH documents and data. The Semantic Web will not supersede the current Web. They will coexist. The techniques for searching and surfing the different aspects will be different but will connect. Text search engines don't have to go out of fashion…
…The benefit of the Semantic Web is that data may be re-used in ways unexpected by the original publisher. That is the value added."
-Tim Berners Lee
W3C.org
(http://dig.csail.mit.edu/breadcrumbs/blog/4)
Sectioning Elements
When you begin to plan the layout and structure of your web site, try to think about your content and how the pieces of information relate to the other elements on the page, the page itself, and the rest of the web site. Should the information you're presenting go with something else? Should it stand alone? Should it be nested inside of another web page with similar information? These questions can't be answered all at once. But try to have a semblance of a plan before you start. Sketch it out!
HTML5 introduced a new way of organizing information on your web pages. Sectioning Elements are kind of like a div, only much more powerful and helpful. The four basic Sectioning Elements are:
- Section
- Article
- Aside
- Nav
Here's a helpful diagram (free gift from html5doctor.com) to help you decide which sectioning element may work best for you web page information: sectioning_flowchart.pdf (312K)
I like to think about them like our trusty and ubiquitous newspaper. A full newspaper is like a web site. Each section of a newspaper (top stories, sports, weather, etc.) features a group of articles that go together.
New html5 web pages will reflect this same concept. My #content div may now feature <section></section> tags. And within my section tags there may be <header></header> and <article></article> tags that hold my nicely written article about how cool html5 and css3 are.
So why make all these changes? Well, when the powers-to-be look at all the content on the web, they want to organize it for us. So if I have a cool news reader (rss) that I use to find news articles for me about html5, the web spiders can find these articles faster, and with more accuracy than before. I'm sure search engines, web analytic software, and Content Management System (CMS) query software will greatly benefit from them as well.