Why not use CSS without the custom element? From this post I don't see the benefit of using <swim-lanes> over <section class="swim-lanes"> for example.
Arguably, that would be misuse of the semantic meaning of "section." While <section> is nearly as generic as <div>, they should always have a heading of their own. The author's <swim-lane> already has a nested <section> with its own <h2>, but the <swim-lane> itself doesn't get (or need) its own even-higher heading.
And since that would drive us to <div>, I don't see any value in <div class="swim-lanes"> over <swim-lanes>.
It is unfortunate that you cannot simply move a block of HTML elsewhere where the context is otherwise perfectly suitable but expected heading level is different[0].
Section-relative headings were briefly part of the spec but quickly got removed. As it stands, I would not consider any block of HTML with an <hX> element portable.
In case you’ve forgotten this is a thread on an article about web components.
If the underlying premise of your point was entirely independent of web components you’ve done pretty poor job of communicating it.
So you actually do that? Use custom elements without web components instead of using classes? Are you using in something like react with custom elements foregoing type safety to avoid a div element? Or is this just in plain HTML? How many custom elements does your typical web project have?
Or are you fixating on an irrelevant technicality to make an irrelevant point?
The article is literally about not using web components. FTA:
> What would happen if we took the ideas of HTML Web Components and skipped all the JavaScript? [...] Okay great, we styled some HTML nested inside a custom element.
Let’s not pretend like your original point here was they were barely using features of web components correctly, like the parent of this thread was clearly implying.
1. Specificity - swim-line.buttons vs .swin-lines.buttons vs .buttons.swim-lanes.
2. Future pathing - Maybe you don't need a Web Component today, but you might need one tomorrow.
3. Cleaner - <swim-lane /> is just better than <div class="swim-lane" />
Sounds like premature optimization. And I say this as someone who has been using custom elements and web components in production since 2016. In fact one of my products offers WCs for our customers:
"Clean" is the biggest lie in software development. It's an aesthetic opinion dressed up as objective fact. You think components are clean, someone else thinks classes are clean, and neither of you are wrong, except for believing that "clean" is a property of the code and not something entirely in your own mind.
And since that would drive us to <div>, I don't see any value in <div class="swim-lanes"> over <swim-lanes>.