Re: should CSS, HTML, etc. documents bear version information? (XMLVersioning-41?)

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Lachlan Hunt writes:

>> This has "classification" ramifications (this is XHTML Basic, this
>> is XHTML + MathML) and "versioning" ramifications (this is XHTML
>> Basic 1.0, while *this* used XHTML Basic 1.1).
>
> Such classification and versioning has yet to prove useful in any way
> whatsoever.  They have in fact proven to be actively harmful to the
> web by creating "walled gardens", particularly in the mobile market.

Could you expand a bit?  The phrase "walled garden" gets used a lot,
but I guess I'm not clear what actual force it's meant to convey. . .

>> But it might matter.  Because it *might* matter, we must allow
>> producers the opportunity to guide agents.
>
> Arguing for versioning because it *might* matter is a long way from
> proving it actually *does* matter.

The argument is not that version information _might_ matter, but that
it _does_ matter to some people in some, important to them,
circumstances.  If meeting their needs has low cost for the rest of
the system, surely we should do so.

I'd be interested if you could engage directly with the points in my
original post, which identified three reasons why authors/producers
sometimes want to signal version identity, and also if you would
respond to the distinction I drew between definitive and advisory
version information.

ht
- -- 
 Henry S. Thompson, HCRC Language Technology Group, University of Edinburgh
                     Half-time member of W3C Team
    2 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9LW, SCOTLAND -- (44) 131 650-4440
            Fax: (44) 131 650-4587, e-mail: ht@inf.ed.ac.uk
                   URL: http://www.ltg.ed.ac.uk/~ht/
[mail really from me _always_ has this .sig -- mail without it is forged spam]
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.6 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFGEhY3kjnJixAXWBoRArUPAJ9Hn9nCZ/k2RpGtOpDeivSugafh+gCeJXRV
LmO+hJCQS61D68w321P4cSM=
=0MMY
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Received on Tuesday, 3 April 2007 08:55:10 UTC