On the web, front-end code has meaning beyond visual display. Over the years, I’ve noticed this is missed or not understood by many engineers and developers, and primarily those who are not web or front-end focused.

The meaning, for example, is valuable for accessibility. Making everything a div rather than using semantic markup prevents accessibility tools from doing their job. Using Javascript rather than a link for navigation often does the same.

The meaning is also valuable for SEO. Making all headers a div and not using semantic markup in a meaningful sequence results in miscommunicating content context to search engines.

The meaning is also valuable to the plethora of third-party tools that can sit atop a UI and provide additional capabilities. These range from rapid & in-depth analytics to contextual help & walkthroughs.

For teams creating web-based products, solving customer problems is a lot easier when this is understood and well incorporated.