Using generic tags and allowing clients to specify presentation is pretty much precisely where I'm headed.
For an excellent example of the first half of this, see Mark Pilgrim's excellent "Dive into HTML5". I'm referring here to the structure of the document, not the content (though that's also excellent). The document is virtually entirely bare-bones HTML5 tags, with a typical nesting depth of 2-3 elements, rarely more.
Mark has also applied an excellent (and being the exception, proving the rule that virtually all CSS sucks) stylesheet to the site. Again with a minimum of chrome and glitter.
My thought, again, is that, similar to how LaTeX offers a few basic documenbt templates, a set of standardised site semantic layouts, for which clients offer standard presentation formats, with variants for high and low contrast, "night mode", and simplified design, might be preferable.
For an excellent example of the first half of this, see Mark Pilgrim's excellent "Dive into HTML5". I'm referring here to the structure of the document, not the content (though that's also excellent). The document is virtually entirely bare-bones HTML5 tags, with a typical nesting depth of 2-3 elements, rarely more.
Mark has also applied an excellent (and being the exception, proving the rule that virtually all CSS sucks) stylesheet to the site. Again with a minimum of chrome and glitter.
My thought, again, is that, similar to how LaTeX offers a few basic documenbt templates, a set of standardised site semantic layouts, for which clients offer standard presentation formats, with variants for high and low contrast, "night mode", and simplified design, might be preferable.
http://diveinto.html5doctor.com/