Re: use <a> for hancors without content, not <span>

[Per Bothner]

On 12/26/21 09:33, Patrice Dumas wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Currently <span id="id"></span> is used for anchors, whether they
> originate from @anchor, in some cases from @node and sectionning
> @-commands, @*index, ...  It is syntactically correct, but I think that
> it would be semantically better to use <a> and keep <span> for inline
> text that needs some kind of formatting information.
>
> Also I propose to add class to the anchors to distinguish their source.
>
> Any opposition/idea?

I don't think using <a> for anchors is a good idea.  The WHATHG spec says:

   "If the a element has no href attribute, then the element represents a 
placeholder
   for where a link might otherwise have been placed, if it had been relevant, 
consisting of just the element's contents."

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/a does not suggest or 
give
any examples of using <a> without an href attribute.

--
        --Per Bothner
per@bothner.com   http://per.bothner.com/