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When testing my code using the w3 html5 validator, I get this warning message:

Warning: The name attribute is obsolete. Consider putting an id attribute on the nearest container instead.

Question(s):

  • What does the nearest container mean?
  • Is empty <a> now deprecated?
  • Should I use id instead of name?
0

3 Answers 3

21

If you need to jump users to in-page links, also known as fragment identifiers, you can set the id attribute (which is used for more than just frag ids) on any element. Then use the usual # in the URL of a href attribute of an a element. Here’s an example:

<body>
  <p>Despite the many
    <a href="#benefits-of-gum-chewing">benefits</a>
    you may experience while chewing gum, there are also many drawbacks,
    especially with 
    <a href="http://www.example.org/sugar.html#cons">non-sugarless</a>
    gum.</p>
  ...
  <section id="benefits-of-gum-chewing">
    <h1>Benefits of Gum Chewing</h1>
    ...
  </section>
</body>

When writing my own pages, I like to give an id to each <section> tag (HTML5), even if I don’t plan on using it. The value of the id is a URL-friendly version of its heading’s content. You can achieve the same effect by assigning the same id to an <h1>, etc.

Lastly, empty <a> tags are not deprecated, as indicated in the HTML5 spec:

If the a element has no href attribute, then the element represents a placeholder for where a link might otherwise have been placed …

Additionally the same applies for area elements:

The href attribute on a and area elements is not required; when those elements do not have href attributes they do not create hyperlinks.

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10

[A]re empty placeholder tags as a whole deprecated, and anchors can simply point to any element with an id instead?

I prefer to jump users to heading tags (following MediaWiki's default behavior) where in-page links are needed, but yes, you could address the ID of any element.

3

For HTML5, name attribute is now deprecated, so that means to use id in place of name. Otherwise, everything else is the same.

<a> is NOT deprecated.

2
  • While this answer is good, a link to documentation or an article explaining the deprecation would make it even better. Jul 14, 2017 at 0:51
  • 2
    Specifically, it is the name attribute on the anchor element that is deprecated/obsolete. The name attribute is still perfectly valid (and required) on other elements.
    – MrWhite
    Jul 14, 2017 at 0:53

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