POSH

POSH is a really cheesy Acronym that contains another Acronym. It stands for Plain Old Semantic HTML.

Although it's a bad (and some would argue pointless) Acronym, POSH is a term that might make it easier to talk about using Semantic HTML. In fact, I would argue that it's already got people talking about Semantic HTML - this can only be a good thing.

So what's Semantic HTML and what can it do for me?

In a nutshell, Semantic HTML means using the best tags to describe the content. For example if you are writing an essay that contains paragraphs, those paragraphs should be marked up using <p> tags instead of <br>'s. Ideally what we want is to move away from using HTML elements for presentation. Contrary to still commone practice HTML is not the best way of creating a layout for a web page. Tables should be used for presenting tabular data, not for layout.

Yes, but what can it do for me?

Semantic HTML has usability and accessibility benefits. By describing your content with the best tags you are ensuring that it can be accessed in more ways. You do you want your content to be available to screen readers, search engine spiders and the widest range of web browsers, right? You should read a clearer argument for why to use Semantic HTML on the Future of the Web site by Jesse Skinner.

Here are some more resources if you want to learn more about POSH:

• Microformats - POSH
• POSH - by Keith Alexander
• Presentation on Semantic HTML