The HTML spec currently recommends using the article element to mark up each comment in a list of comments on a blog post. It has been observed that users who consume the article element semantics find this unhelpful or annoying in cases where there are more than a few comments. It is also apparent that relationship between nested comments is not conveyed and the set size of a logical grouping of article elements is not conveyed.There has been some discussion on the HTML working group mailing list on this topic.
how can this be remedied?
There are any number of possible suggestions (including leaving as is) a few are provided here.
1. Change the authoring recommendation:
Advise authors to use list markup for comments. Note this does not preclude the use of article to markup the comments, which may be included as a child of an li element, but the question of the utitility of article in this scenario is one that needs to be answered.
Example:
Comment on use of article
Another comment on use of article
Further comment on use of article
A comment in reply to the further comment on use of article
Code:
<ul>
<li>Comment on use of article
<li>Another comment on use of article
<li>Further comment on use of article
<ul>
<li>A comment in reply to the further comment on use of article.
</ul>
</ul>
Advantages
Results in useful information about the structure and relationships between comments being available to users.
Only involves authoring advice changes
Disadvantages
Possible styling constraints.
Promote overuse of lists.
Removes the (unknown) semantic advantages of using article to mark up comments.
Modify how lists work:
Allow ul or ol elements to contain elements other than the li element:
Example:
Comment on use of articleAnother comment on use of articleFurther comment on use of article
A comment in reply to the further comment on use of article
Code:
<ul>
<article>Comment on use of article</article>
<article>Another comment on use of article</article>
<article>Further comment on use of article</article>
<ul>
<article>A comment in reply to the further comment on use of article</article>
</ul>
</article>
</ul>
Advantages
Results in useful information about the structure and relationships between comments being available to users.
Allows use of article, but at the same time allows mapping/modifying of semantics in the accessibility layer to reflect useful information about structure and nesting relationships.
Easily defines set size for arbitrary elements.
Disadvantages
Possible styling constraints.
Promote overuse of lists.
Possible mainstream browser implementation changes required.
New feature usage for developers to learn.
Browser accessibility implementation changes may be required.
AT implementation changes may be required.
Notes:
These notes only reflect cursory testing.
The use of ul to wrap the article element in Suggestion 2:
Does not appear to have a negative effect on the DOM.
Appears to convey the desired useful information to AT users. For example its announced as a list and the number of items in the list is correctly conveyed.
Appears to change the styling in a uniform manner across browsers.
Related email thread on HTML working group mailing list