HTML Landmark Elements

HTML provides a range of elements that can significantly enhance the accessibility and structure of a website. Among these elements, landmark elements play a crucial role in improving the overall user experience. And landmark elements that ensure content is easily navigable for all users. So, in this article, we will see what is HTML landmark elements and why should we use them.

What is a landmark?

Landmarks refer to semantic elements that define specific sections or regions within a web page. This is important for individuals with disabilities, as they provide a clear organization and improve accessibility.

Before semantic elements came, we used non-semantic elements like <div> and <span> to build the entire web page. HTML5 introduced some new elements which help us to find the semantics of a region of the page rather than of a single interactive element.

Why should we use landmark elements in HTML?

• It provides a clear structure and organization, allowing users with disabilities to navigate through the content more easily.
• It improves the overall readability and maintainability of the codebase.
• If a user wants to jump directly to the main content or the navigation menu, landmarks allow them to do so easily.
• We can improve the search engine visibility and ranking of their websites by using landmark elements.
• This makes the codebase easier for other developers to understand and maintain, leading to improved collaboration.

What are landmark elements?

We can use the landmark elements in the webpage like:

1. See the above image, the <header> element is a grouping element for any introductory content at the start of a page banner or any type of section, like the image above.
2. The <nav> element represents a section of a page that links to other pages like the above image or to parts within the page like a table of contents.
3. The <main> element represents the main content of a page. Typically there should only be one main element since otherwise it raises the question of which one is really the main block.
4. The <article> element defines a self-contained, independent piece of content within a web page. It could represent a blog post, a news article, a forum post, or any other similar content.
5. The <section> element defines a thematic grouping of content within a web page. It helps in dividing the content into logical and meaningful sections.
6. The <aside> element represents content that is tangentially related to the main content but can be considered separate from it. It is commonly used for sidebars, pull quotes or advertisements.
7. The <footer> element is a page footer and it contains information about the page or site. Or it could be a footer for a specific section of a page with additional information about that section.

Conclusion

By utilizing these HTML landmark elements, we can create websites that are more accessible, well-structured, and user-friendly. These elements not only enhance the experience for users with disabilities but also improve the overall usability for all visitors.