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HTML One Solution

Diane Kostik
Diane Kostik
2,005 Points

Why was the <span> tag assigned to "time" in the ordered list at the bottom of the page? When is <span> used?

Why was the <span> tag assigned to "time" in the ordered list at the bottom of the page? When is <span> used?

2 Answers

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,275 Points

One handy use for <span> is to enclose text to make it into a separate element, which then can be styled by CSS or manipulated in JavaScript.

It's not necessary in this example, and the instructor does say "You could've used a different approach for this and that's okay."

Another element that could be used in this context is <time>. <span> is a generic wrapper for an inline content, same way as <div> is a generic wrapper for a block content.

    <section>
        <!-- Level 2 section heading -->
        <h2>Schedule</h2>

        <!-- Display the schedule as an ordered list -->
        <ol>
            <li>
                <h3>Get Ready for the Future of CSS</h3>
                <p>Cee Esses</p>
                <time datetime="12:00">12:00pm</time>
            </li>
            <li>
                <h3>All Things Frameworks</h3>
                <p>Jay Query</p>
                <time datetime="13:00">1:00pm</time>
            </li>
            <li>
                <h3>ES2018 and Beyond</h3>
                <p>Ecma Scriptnstuff</p>
                <time datetime="14:00">2:00pm</time>
            </li>
        </ol>
    </section>
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,275 Points

But be aware that <time> requires a strictly-formatted datetime attribute, it must not have any element descendants, and is not supported in legacy (including all IE) browsers.