As this is a hand-coded site over ten years old, it has started to collect some crusty, out-dated HTML and general coding techniques. I try to keep up and release a new version every few years just to keep the site skeleton fresh.
When I started blogging (and developing sites) in 2001, there was no such thing as mobile-optimized websites, jQuery, CSS concatenation, IE detection in HTML, and descriptive blog HTML tags like
So I decided to invest time implementing the right approach for my HTML structure from individuals that know a lot more about this than I do.
HTML5 Boilerplate
I am now borrowing the approach from HTML5 Boilerplate as my main template and site structure.
The idea behind HTML5 Boilerplate is to provide a clean, solid basis for any website. There are certain aspects of your HTML structure that you should always include to make sure things are as optimized and accessible as possible.
There are also shortcuts and easier ways to write things than you may have previously attempted.
For example, for years I have used this extremely long doctype at the very top of my HTML pages:
Turns out it is not necessary anymore, and I can now just use:
For mobile devices accessing your site, it is also wise to include this tag:
The IE-specific tests are also nice: