In Chapter 6 on templates, you've seen that Joomla! now outputs clean code, using semantic HTML layouts. Joomla! 1.5 wasn't up to web standards in this respect. For one thing, it used tables to create page layouts, which is generally regarded nowadays as one of the biggest no-no's in semantic coding terms. Another drawback of the 1.5 output was that HTML heading elements, such as H1
and H2
, weren't used as they should has been (notably, to properly structure the HTML document).
In Joomla! 1.6, HTML elements are used with respect to their intended purpose within the document. Tables aren't used for layout purposes anymore; headings now define the main structure of the HTML document. This is great, as it will make it easier for search engines to unravel the structure of the web page and to find out what content is relevant and worth indexing.
The new semantic HTML layouts are a big step forward towards a SEO friendly site—and the great news is that you...