Comments on: The Address Element

By: Bookmarks for March 11th from 19:04 to 19:44 | Travis' Blog

Bookmarks for March 11th from 19:04 to 19:44 | Travis' Blog — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:04:25 +0000

[...] The Address Element | HTML5 Doctor – The right way to use the

element in html mark-up

[...]

By: Jordan Rothstein

Jordan Rothstein — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:35:59 +0000

How this dispute about address started Recent versions of the HTML Spec contain an unfortunate wording, that has been mis-interpreted by some. Authors are cautioned against arbitrary use of address tags, and a postal address in address tags is an example. That doesn't mean that postal addresses, or any other type of contact information, are inherently arbitrary. It means that a postal address should only be in address tags, if the postal address is the contact information for the person responsible for the page or section. It's an example of arbitrary use of address tags. The point is to avoid arbitrary use of address tags, not to avoid postal addresses. The address element must not be used to represent arbitrary addresses (e.g. postal addresses), unless those addresses are in fact the relevant contact information. (The p element is the appropriate element for marking up postal addresses in general.) from HTML5 Spec: Address Element The phrase unless those addresses are in fact the relevant contact information. means if the postal address is the relevant contact information, enclose it in address tags. e.g. definition: An abbreviation for exempli gratia, Latin for for example.

By: Jordan Rothstein

Jordan Rothstein — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:50:19 +0000

To Kaelig: The examples showing how to use the address element, on the W3C site, are just examples. Some use physical mail address, some don’t. Some use phone numbers, some don’t. The example you cited doesn’t use phone number, email, or fax. That doesn’t mean that those types of contact information are prohibited. They just were not used in that example.

By: Jordan Rothstein

Jordan Rothstein — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:38:26 +0000

To Eli Dupuis: Clarification – a link to a page about the person responsible for a page or section, could be enclosed in address tags, if the page linked to has contact information for that person, or a form to send them a message.

By: Jordan Rothstein

Jordan Rothstein — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:29:19 +0000

To Eli Dupuis: Don’t use address tags for dates, titles, or links. Use address tags around contact information for the person responsible for a page or a section. Address can include any type of contact information: email, fax, IM, phone, postal mail, and any new ways of contacting people that are developed in the future.

By: Eli Dupuis

Eli Dupuis — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:36:11 +0000

Thanks for all the clarification and tips!

I’m wondering what you think of the following use of the address element…

I have a list of websites in a portfolio-type setup. Each site has a date, title and a link to the live site—pretty standard setup… Do you think it would be appropriate to wrap the link (perhaps the title as well) in an address tag? Thoughts?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:15:50 +0000

[...]

Dr. Jack Osborne HTML5 Hospital, Doctorville, Great Britain Tel: +44 (0)XXXX XXXXXX

Quelle: The Address Element | HTML5 Doctor [...]

By: Kaelig

Kaelig — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:28:07 +0000

@Jordan :

HTML 4.01 specs :

The ADDRESS element may be used by authors to supply contact information for a document or a major part of a document such as a form. This element often appears at the beginning or end of a document.

For example, a page at the W3C Web site related to HTML might include the following contact information:

Dave Raggett,
Arnaud Le Hors,
contact persons for the W3C HTML Activity
$Date: 1999/12/24 23:37:50 $

http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/global.html#edef-ADDRESS

See, there is no mention of a postal address whatsoever in the last specs of the address element.

By: Nick Edwards

Nick Edwards — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:05:48 +0000

So would using it around mailto email links be a correct use of this tag? Or is that like the postal address?

Thanks,
Nick

By: Jordan Rothstein

Jordan Rothstein — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:57:58 +0000

W3C.org recommends using the Address element for any type of contact information: name, email, IM, phone, postal mail, URL, VOIP and new media as they emerge. Examples of this from the specs for HTML2, HTML3 and HTML4 are given below. (Please note that the address element has been part of HTML since HTML2, not HTML3 as you claimed.)

Address element is for:
Contact information for the contact person(s) for the page.

Address element is not for:
Contact information for anyone other than the contact person(s) for the page.

When to use the Address element:
If I make a page urging readers to contact their elected representative about climate change, my contact info should be in address tags on my page. The representative’s info should not be in address tags on my page. If the elected representative has a page about climate change, their contact info should be in address tags on their page.

Examples from W3C.org:

HTML2
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html-spec/html-spec_5.html#SEC5.5.3
The ADDRESS element contains such information as address, signature and authorship, often at the beginning or end of the body of a document.
Typically, the ADDRESS element is rendered in an italic typeface and may be indented.
Example of use:

Newsletter editor
J.R. Brown
JimquickPost News, Jimquick, CT 01234
Tel (123) 456 7890

HTML3
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html3/address.html
The ADDRESS element specifies such information as address, signature and authorship for the current document, and typically placed at the top or bottom of the document. When used with %text, the element acts similar to a paragraph with breaks before and after.
Example:

Newsletter editor
J.R. Brown
8723 Buena Vista, Smallville, CT 01234&t;BR>
Tel: +1 (123) 456 7890

HTML3.2
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html32#address
The ADDRESS element requires start and end tags, and specifies information such as authorship and contact details for the current document. User agents should render the content with paragraph-breaks before and after. Note that the content is restricted to paragraphs, plain text and text-like elements as defined by the %text entity.
Example:

Newsletter editor
J.R. Brown
8723 Buena Vista, Smallville, CT 01234
Tel: +1 (123) 456 7890

HTML4
http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-html40-970917/struct/global.html#h-8.4.4
For lack of a better place, we include the definition of the ADDRESS here. This element adds author and contact information to a document, e.g.,

Newsletter editor
J. R. Brown
8723 Buena Vista, Smallville, CT 01234
Tel: +1 (123) 456 7890