Re: CR exit criteria and features at risk for HTML5

On 8/17/12 11:36 PM, Glenn Adams wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 12:30 AM, Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis
>     Formally reference it for what purpose?
>
> Does it matter? Basically, formally reference it in the normative
> reference sections of their standards/specifications.

It does matter.  In particular, it matters whether the parts of HTML 
being referenced are the ones that match reality or not...

>     What will happen when downstream specifications you mention reference
>     an HTML spec that is incorrect: i.e. does not describe how web content
>     is best consumed? Mightn't this lead to a downstream spec requiring
>     documents to be produced that are not compatible with how browsers
>     have to operate to consume the web corpus?
>
> What normally happens. Standards and specs are revised over time. No
> mystery there.

What "normally" happens is that you get mutually contradictory standards 
and then people have to implement one or the other but not both.  At 
least that's what I've seen happening in cases like this so far.

It might be that a decade later one of the standards involved gets 
errata to fix the inconsistency.  But it might also be that it doesn't, 
because that would break legacy content written to that standard. 
Again, I've seen more of the latter than the former.

-Boris

Received on Saturday, 18 August 2012 03:41:58 UTC