I'll tell you, traveling to Paris for Drupalcon was worth it for mortendk's session on markup alone. Not only did it include gratuitous amounts of David Hasselhoff, but I admire anyone who can tell a community of thousands to STFU.

Amusement and honesty aside, I had an epiphany during the session. I've honestly not worked with the Panels module a TON, due to the nature of the projects I've worked on. Still, I recognize the extreme power that it provides, especially considering the flexibility it gives to people who don't want to/know how to touch code or have a need for many people to rearrange content on the site.

I admit, I cringe thinking about projects I've worked on with Panels where I needed, for time purposes, to leave the markup be. I've huffed and puffed and whined and bitched about it on many occasions. However, I have come to understand the complexity of this issue - like many modules, improving the markup while keeping the output flexible enough for all users is no small feat. So, in keeping with a sentiment that mortendk expressed that I typically embrace, I've decided to STFU and do something about it.

For those who may not know, mortendk has contributed a base theme - Mothership - that includes some optimized Views templates. Following his lead, I've decided to take a crack at providing an alternate version of Panels templates that are a bit more semantic and concise for people who are more proficient with CSS. This seems like a really sizeable task, and while I can create what *I* think is best, I want to get others' thoughts on the issue. I really want this to be usable.

What would you change about Panels markup? What DO you change? How do you approach working with your panels? Are there specific pain points or challenges to this project that you see?

I welcome any and all thoughts on the issue. All of your food for discussion and thought is valuable!