Re: null namespace Re: Next steps for the ARIA syntax discussion

Robert J Burns wrote:
> To use your example of a SwimmingPoolControlML vocabulary, the "fill" attribute 
> on the MyPoo element will be in the null namespace, while the 
> "spcml:fill" attribute on the DIV element will be in the 
> http://SwimmingPoolControlML.com/ (to coin the uri) namespace.  From the 
> authors perspective, these are the exact same attributes. However, the 
> work for the author is now doubled because they appear in two different 
> namespaces.

You are incorrectly assuming that an attribute in the null namespace 
defined for use on elements in a particular namespace, can automatically 
be used on other elements by putting the attribute itself into a 
namespace.  This does not work.  To understand why, let's look at a real 
example from XHTML.

<link type="text/css" ... />
<ol type="a">...</ol>
<input type="text"/>
<menu type="toolbar">...</menu>

... and several other elements that use type="" for various purposes.

If your assumption were correct, what semantics would the type attribute 
have in this case?

<foo:bar xhtml:type="...">

-- 
Lachlan Hunt - Opera Software
http://lachy.id.au/
http://www.opera.com/

Received on Friday, 23 May 2008 10:19:05 UTC