Re: (code, sample output and keyboard/device input <code>, <samp>, <kybd>) part of my review of 3.12 Phrase elements

At 22:58 +1000 UTC, on 2007-07-20, Lachlan Hunt wrote:

[...]

> Syntax highlighting for computer code would only be for
> a niche market.  I'd estimate that well over 90% of users have no
> interest in code, and implementing such a complex system for a minority
> is hardly worthwhile.

There is no such universal truth. Apple for example seems to have done pretty
well for some 30 years, serving a very small minority with a way more complex
product.

It may be that current browser vendors don't want to do this work; that it'll
be a plug-in vendor opportunity. But I think what matters to this WG is
whether it is useful for UAs to be capable of recognising syntax and doing
something useful with it. If so[*], then HTML should provide authors with the
means to mark things up accordingly (perhaps through @syntax). The only real
problem I see is the risk of defining @syntax without any certainty that a
plug-in will ever be made.

[*] Once upon a time programming was a minute niche. These days many millions
of 'normal people' are using some sort of computer language.


-- 
Sander Tekelenburg
The Web Repair Initiative: <http://webrepair.org/>

Received on Tuesday, 24 July 2007 02:56:26 UTC