Re: Suggested revised text for HTML/XML report intro

On Wed, 10 Aug 2011 21:47:44 +0200, Noah Mendelsohn <nrm@arcanedomain.com>  
wrote:
> ==================================================
> Against the backdrop of this tension, the TAG formed this Task Force in  
> order to explore how interoperability between HTML and XML could be  
> improved, and this report sets out the results of the Task Force's work.
>
> The Task Force explored some approaches that would provide higher levels  
> of compatibility than are discussed in the sections below. For example,  
> consideration was given to proposals to produce new versions of the XML  
> specification that would retain significant compatibility with XML as  
> deployed today, but would provide more HTML-compatible processing, e.g.  
> for documents that are not well formed. Unfortunately, the task force  
> failed to discover any such approach that we expect would be widely  
> accepted in practice. As shown by the failed attempt to deploy XML 1.1,  
> XML is valued in part because of the high degree of compatibility among  
> XML tool chains; if an XML document is processable by one application or  
> tool, chances are excellent that it will work with others. Thus, the  
> introduction of a new class of more HTML-compatible XML tends to  
> undercut the very property that XML users value most: the new documents  
> may be rejected or misinterpreted by existing XML tools and  
> applications. Similarly, efforts to extend or adapt HTML5 to become more  
> XML-compatible seem unlikely to meet with sufficiently widespread  
> acceptance, at least at this time. So, with reluctance, the task force  
> reports that no structural changes could be identified that would   
> significantly increase the compatibility of the two stacks, and also be  
> deployable in practice.
>
> The task force did carefully analyze a set of use cases, and concluded  
> that substantial opportunities do exist today for using HTML and XML  
> technologies together.  Details are provided in the sections below.  
> Readers are particularly encouraged to report additional use cases that  
> they feel are not represented or specific examples where the solutions  
> outlined are not appropriate.
>
> ==================================================

I don't think this summary is accurate. We have enumerated potential  
places where there could be convergence, but we have not actually  
investigated whether XML5 could work, for instance. Having said that, I  
think it is fair to say there have been several fruitless attempts to  
change HTML to date.


-- 
Anne van Kesteren
http://annevankesteren.nl/

Received on Sunday, 14 August 2011 11:58:43 UTC