Order Force in HTML?

Published on Feb 19, 2025, filed under development, html. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon or on Bluesky.)

This is one of 180 articles that you can also read in an ebook: On Web Development II.

In English, adjectives need to follow a specific order. This requirement is known as “order force” (I couldn’t confirm this term, but the Guardian is using it), and the order, gullibly following a popular tweet, is opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, and purpose. The force is strong: Use any other order, and the statement will sound weird or wrong.

What does order force have to do with HTML?

Going out on a limb, it feels a lot like we have a hidden order in HTML, too—not one of adjectives, but of attributes:

<img src alt>
<link rel href>
<a href class>
<!-- Just kidding on this one, but I’ve seen it: -->
<div class name id src aria-disabled></div>

Any other order may also feel wrong—just like a sentence that uses an incorrect order of adjectives. (To stay with the tweet, <img alt src> may be our “green great dragons.”)

Sure, now, there is tooling—and yet that tooling doesn’t seem essential. In terms of popularity, it pales in comparison to other formatting-related tooling, as for CSS and JavaScript.

The fact that this tooling doesn’t seem as crucial, could be seen as a wink—I see as a wink—that, yes, there is something like order force, in HTML.

What do you think?

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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.)