Re: Embed attribute for LINK element

> Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 14:26:41 -0500 (EST)
> From: Michael Hamm <msh210@is7.nyu.edu>
> To: www-html@w3.org
> cc: thelawnet@yahoo.com
> Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.4.21.0001171424220.28855-100000@is7.nyu.edu>
> Subject: Re: Embed attribute for LINK element
> 
> Matthew Brealey <thelawnet@yahoo.com> wrote, in part:
> [[[[[[[[[[begin quote]]]]]]]]]]
> > # find that I have to duplicate much of my LINKed style sheet in my HTML for
> > # offline reading, which rather obviates the advantages of having LINKed
> > # style in the first place.
> >
> >   IMHO user should be able to save the stylesheet even if the author hadn't
> >   included embed="embed". So this should be a matter of browser design,
> >   not (X)HTML itself. As far as I know MSIE5 can save linked resources
> >   (images, stylesheets, etc.) with the document. Yes - older browsers can't,
> >   but they do not support embed, however.
> 
> Certainly, but very few users bother with the tiresome 'Save page and
> all its resources' option. The point is is that to the user viewing the
> page online, they do not realise that the style sheet is linked, and
> they should not, if the author wishes, have to know about these things
> if viewing offline.
> [[[[[[[[[[end quote]]]]]]]]]]
> 
> They don't have to. They can see the HTML page just fine even without the
> stylesheet, if the page was written properly.

They can see it, but they won't be able to appreciate all the styles in
the style sheet - if they view a fully strict page offline without the
style sheet, it will look very ugly - no line heights, no margins, no
colour, etc. You can't surely be suggesting that this is satisfactory.

As I have said, users should not be exposed to the technical details of
embedded vs. linked style sheets.