HTML.md

Published on May 5, 2026, filed under development, html, ai. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon or on Bluesky.)

AGENTS.md, ACCESSIBILITY.md but also A11Y.md, DESIGN.md—as well as taste.md.

Following this trend of specialized specification files, here is a draft for HTML.md (gist)—foundational instructions you need for writing HTML, geared towards both humans and machines (if only to improve parsing and save tokens).

* Use the elements most appropriate semantically.
* Use as little HTML as possible.
* Validate all HTML output against an HTML validator (preferably the W3C one), and fix any errors.

That’s it.

Is this a joke?

No: While these instructions are opinionated insofar as they reflect a school of minimal web development honoring the first rule of ARIA and suggesting no use of optional markup, they acknowledge the reality that the HTML code on most websites often isn’t using the right elements for the job (e.g., divitis) and that it’s essentially never error-free (i.e., commonly invalid). Note, then, that this guidance intentionally doesn’t handle “everything,” like accessibility, performance, and search optimization, but the foundation.

Although we can memorize the three instructions, it is useful to document them in writing.

Whether that’s actually in form of an “HTML.md,” however, that’s everyone’s individual call. So this is not a serious request for this particular file convention—but one for us to pay more attention to HTML quality.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager at various companies, including Google; I’m an open-source developer and a contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG); and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also with respect to politics and philosophy. Here on meiert.com I talk about some of my experiences and perspectives. (Please share feedback—interpret charitably, keep it friendly, but do be critical.)