Paul wrote:Since in the real world divs and spans have no real semantic meaning then you cannot say they are semantically incorrect, they actually don't alter the semantics one jot.
I didn't say that.
Paul wrote:People confuse the use of divs and spans with semantics. If you think there are too many divs and spans thats an argument about markup style, nothing to do with semantics unless you think a div or span has been used in place of a semantic tag.
Exactly, DIV's in header are used in place of semantic tags, so it is a semantic issue.
Your logic is self-defeating since if you are using zero-semantic DIV's around the content, your HTML document is also zero-semantic. DIVs are just grouping elements, they shouldn't contain text alone. Semantics comes first, then you can add necessary DIV/SPAN tags for layout and styling.
Paul wrote:What is or is not a paragph is also a matter of opinion. The board title could just be one word and one word is a text snippet not a paragraph. Anybody care to suggest what the semantically appropriate tag is for an isolated word of text thats not a heading?
Board title can be H1 title, but since it's smarter to use H1 tags for topic titles, a paragraph is OK.
Paul wrote:As for a text breadcrumb divider being easier to style. The text would be in the markup or the language file but the arrow is merely a background image so the argument is nonensene.
You can use around that arrow a SPAN. :)
<p id="path"><a href="#">First level</a> <span>></span> <a href="#">Second level</a> <span>></span> Third level</p>
#path SPAN {
margin: 0 .5em;
color: #f00;
}