If I edit template(s) or change/rename css classes, will this negatively affect anything?

[Lone Fox]

I will try to explain,

If I decide to use XenForo for my new site, I want to eventually edit templates and CSS. I'm just want to make sure I don't impede SEO or create any other negative effects.

What should I look out for?

Semantic HTML
XenForo uses Semantic HTML, which is great! However, if one creates a customized skin then one will need to be careful what they edit.

To my understanding its 100% safe to change the CSS, this will not effect the semantic markup what so ever?
Editing the HTML can cause issues? What should I NOT touch? I'm assuming one should leave <header> <nav>, etc... alone?

Anything else I should be cautious with?

 

[James]

Changing the CSS won't affect the mark-up of your website, just how it is displayed to the end user. Search engines will still index your information in the same way.

Changing the HTML shouldn't make that much difference either. It depends on your comfort levels. Some people have completely restructured the HTML, some people have made minor additions.

Semantics are just that, semantics. While semantic HTML is indeed a good thing, having HTML that isn't semantic isn't the worst thing.

For SEO, content is key!

 

[Lone Fox]

Thanks

However, for the sake of comfort and consistency I would still like to know what tags/HTML are used to create the "semantic markup"? I don't want to mess anything up.

I only see myself making a few changes to the HTML, nothing major. I most likely will not rename "header" or "nav" or anything like that (not sure yet).

*disclosed: I'm not a professional web developer, but do have some experience.

 

[Jeremy]

You shouldn't remove classes that start with capital letters, since they are associated with JavaScript functionality. JsOnly, for instance, marks things that should only be displayed if JavaScript is enabled (the associated CSS is display: none;).

You should read up on Semantic HTML.

 

[James]

You can't just rename elements.. header has to be header, you can't change it to <cheese>

http://diveintohtml5.info/semantics.html
http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/html-css/semantic-html/

There's no right or wrong way to do semantic HTML, it depends on the context of your HTML.

 

[Luxus]

Basically, semantic means using <section>, <header>, <aside>, <article> etc. than plain boring <div> tags. They make the source code of a page better readable. However, one should not overdo it with those tags. Only use them if they make sense. You probably should read this article: http://html5doctor.com/avoiding-common-html5-mistakes/