Design Principles Document update

http://esw.w3.org/topic/HTML/ProposedDesignPrinciples

I split the principles into Compatibility, Utility and  
Interoperability categories.

I also added a Disputed Principles category for principles that have  
been disputed on this list. So far as I know, only "Visible Metadata"  
and "Mostly Semantic Markup" have been disputed. I did this so that  
if we adopt some of the principles in a more official way, we can  
just move the undisputed ones from "Proposed Design Principles" to  
"Design Principles", while continuing to discuss the remaining ones.

I think the principles under dispute reflect some underlying fault  
lines in the web standards community.

The "Visible Metadata" principle is favored by Microformats advocates  
(among others), but objected to by RDF / Semantic Web advocates.

The "Mostly Semantic Markup" principle is favored by HTML advocates,  
but objected to by those who think you need XML/SGML to have "real"  
semantics.

I think we will ultimately have to come to decisions on these issues.  
Remaining silent on them may be tempting, to give the appearance of a  
broader consensus, but these principles, or some opposite version,  
will be extremely relevant to specific design decisions.

I'd like to hear if any of the other principles should be marked  
disputed (if you dispute one, please justify your objection,  
otherwise you are just contradicting, not disputing).

Regards,
Maciej

Received on Thursday, 29 March 2007 19:05:14 UTC