Sat, 2011-10-22 14:10
Having been searched this topic on enough forums I see that a lot of people are using an id tag instead of a footer tag for their footers. Could somebody please explain to me, the advantage or disadvantages of using either <div id="footer"> vs <footer>?
//mod edit: bbcode added to delimit html ~gt
Sat, 2011-10-22 16:35
#1
Semantics vs support
The footer element is more semantic, but lacks support in older browsers, especially IE, which people and organizations tend to update with appalling lack of frequency.
In a practical sense, it makes little difference html-wise. There are differences where client side programming is involved, e.g. javascript. In one case, you can find the element "footer", in the other you must look for the id. It will limit code portability until older IEs die out.
cheers,
gary
Sat, 2011-10-22 20:31
#2
And to add - perhaps
And to add - perhaps obviously - <footer> is an html5 tag or I guess could be an XML one.
Sun, 2011-10-23 12:35
#3
<footer> doesn't always have to go at the bottom of your page
<footer>s, like <header>s can be used several times on one page, e.g. for the metadata for a blog post (or a list of blog posts).