Re: CSS selectors and xml:id

Ian Hickson wrote:
> What makes xml:id so special that it needs to 
> be covered in detail, normatively?

It's a simple question of interoperability and ease of use. You know as 
I do that IDness in non-HTML situations has been frequently problematic 
in browsers that do XML+CSS, and furthermore that even when it works 
well users have a hard time invoking the correct DTD mumbo-jumbo to get 
their IDs to match, not understanding why 'id' doesn't just work.

Now we have xml:id which is a very neat addition to the XML toolset. It 
makes an important chunk of what end-users find scary with XML go away. 
An XML specification that simplifies XML, and you don't find that 
special? ;-)

But that can only happen if it's reliably available. Which is why I 
think that CSS requiring xml:id for implementation that can apply CSS to 
XML (it shouldn't be required when HTML is considered) would do its 
share in helping interoperability. I understand the point made by 
several CSS WG members here about abstraction, but abstraction only goes 
so far. Interoperability happens at the concrete. I don't think that a 
small nudge in that direction will hurt CSS a bit.

-- 
Robin Berjon
   Research Scientist
   Expway, http://expway.com/

Received on Monday, 9 May 2005 15:49:03 UTC