Creating semantic HTML has been a way of life for most modern web developers for past 4-5 years. At least it has been for me. With all the benefits that come along with coding your HTML this way, you would think it was an easy sell. Convincing other web developers that upgrading their techniques and skill set to this more modern way of markup. And convincing companies it was in their best interest to code (or re-code) their sites this way. But it wasn’t. Lack of time, money, resources, understanding… pick your poison.
These days more people “get it”. They understand the this is the way forward. And they see the benefits when this modern way of creating semantic HTML is put into action. But not everyone does, so there still some education to be done. You still need to give the the modern semantic HTML speech you’ve given a hundred times. And for those who are in the semantic HTML club, you’re still referring it to “modern semantic HTML that follows web standards” (or a variation thereof) when talking to you buddies.
Now there’s a new term that seems to be blazing a trail through various web development blogs to describe this modern way of coding. POSH. Plain Old Semantic Markup. It’s looking to make a brand name out of what we do everyday. Basically what AJAX did for the XMLHttpRequest object and all that it makes possible. You say “AJAX” and people know what you’re talking about without you having to explain further. Unless of course, they don’t know.
Personally, I like the idea of having a brand name for what we do. Look what AJAX did for “asynchronous server request that doesn’t require a browser refresh”.
So what about the term “POSH”? Is this the best we can do? I can’t think of the term “POSH” without thinking of the Spice Girls. Not sure what that says about me, but lets not go there right now. On the other hand, no one could talk about AJAX without thinking about the abrasive cleaning agent, but that seems to have passed. Time will tell to see if this sticks or not. If it does, I may just stick to “semantic HTML”. Like the cool kids who still refer to AJAX as “XHR”.