In which element should I enclose an <article />'s comments?

Question

I'm working on a blog that implements Disqus comments and I'm making an effort to make as much use of HTML5 semantic markups as possible.

Here's an example <article /> (itself within a <section />), fairly simple:

  <article class="post">
    <header>
      <h2>Title</h2>
      <p class="posted-on">Posted on <time datetime="2012-07-28T13:00:24+01:00">July 28th 2012</time>.</p>
    </header>
    <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...</p>
    <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...</p>
    <!-- blog comments -->
  </article>

With the above structure, I'm unsure semantically where to integrate the article's comments.

• A <footer /> is clearly not appropriate ("The footer element is not sectioning content; it doesn't introduce a new section.")
• Disqus uses async JavaScript to create an <iframe /> to contain the comment widget, so a <p /> doesn't seem appropriate, either.

Am I over-thinking the semantic markup thing: is it best to just stick it into a <div /> and not worry about it?

Answer 1

There is an example in the HTML5 spec for a blog post with comments. Which makes sense, in my opinion.

Your example could look like:

  <article class="post">
    <header>
      <h1>Title</h1>
      <p class="posted-on">Posted on <time datetime="2012-07-28T13:00:24+01:00">July 28th 2012</time>.</p>
    </header>
    <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...</p>
    <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...</p>

    <section>
      <h1>Comments</h1>

      <article><!-- comment 1--></article>
      <article><!-- comment 2--></article>
      <article><!-- comment 3--></article>

    <section>

  </article>

---

Side note: I think your "posted-on" would better fit into a footer instead of a header. So your header could be omitted because it would only contain the heading. So your example could look like:

  <article class="post">

    <h1>Title</h1>

    <footer class="posted-on">Posted on <time datetime="2012-07-28T13:00:24+01:00">July 28th 2012</time>.</footer>

    <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...</p>
    <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...</p>

    <section>
      <h1>Comments</h1>

      <article><!-- comment 1--></article>
      <article><!-- comment 2--></article>
      <article><!-- comment 3--></article>

    <section>

  </article>

Answer 2

You could stick it in its own <section> (rather than a <div>) within your containing <section>, as a sibling of your <article>. But if you're using Disqus, I guess whichever element you use doesn't matter. I don't think it belongs within the article content though. Maybe an <aside> instead?

Just keep in mind that when it comes to semantics, there aren't any hard and fast rules. As long as your document is structured and outlined in a meaningful way, that's what matters.