Summary element

2010-08-04T08:00:02Z

Brucelawson: /* summary flexibility advantages */

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The <code><summary></code> element is a new element in HTML5, a child of the new <code><[[details]]></code> element.

{{For|the summary attribute|Table Summary}}

== summary naming or flexibility ==

Currently the <code><summary></code> element is a special element specifically for use for the label inside the <code><details></code> element.

The name of the <code><summary></code> element however is too generic sounding of an element name for this special usage.

It is inevitable that people will begin using the <code><summary></code> element when they simply mean a semantic "summary", perhaps of a <code><section></code> or <code><article></code>.

I say inevitable due to the broad evidence presented by the known existing problem with the <code><address></code> element (special use - for contact information for the document, but used and often errantly taught as a generic "address" for street addresses).

Thus we should <em>either</em>:

# '''Rename the details <code><summary></code>''' to something more specific (suggestions welcome), <em>OR</em>:
# '''Alternatively make the <code><summary></code> element generic.''' Make it an actual summary inside <code><article></code> or <code><body></code>, as well as inside <code><details></code>. Allow <code><summary></code> anywhere <code><header></code> is allowed (basically, make it a part of the new section related elements).

I prefer the second solution, make the <code><summary></code> element more generic/flexible. — [[User:Tantek|Tantek]] 20:38, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

=== summary flexibility advantages ===
Advantages of making the <code><summary></code> element more generic and flexible:
* This is '''close to the semantic of the Atom "summary" element''', and the hAtom microformat 'entry-summary' property.
* This would allow an '''enhancement of the algorithm for converting HTML5 to Atom''': take the first HTML5 <code><summary></code> inside an <code><article></code> being converted to an entry, and use that HTML5 <code><summary></code> as the Atom entry <code><summary></code>.

<div class="discussion">
Opinions / discussion:
* +1 [[User:Tantek|Tantek]] - I think web authors would make good use of a new generic <code><summary></code> element.
* Bruce Lawson: I don't think there's a need for a generic summary element. But I'd support renaming the summary attribute of details (because it doesn't really summarise). Perhaps "rubric" could replace details>summary and figure>figcaption ?
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Summary element