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

I completely agree that a really big problem with version #s is what is
the # identifying in compound documents.  However, I don't know if the
usage of HTML with a bunch of stuff is really a compromise, so much as
just a limited scope of identification.  There are still things that
could be usefully done with identifying the version of HTML regardless
of the distributed extensions.

Cheers,
Dave 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: www-tag-request@w3.org [mailto:www-tag-request@w3.org] 
> On Behalf Of noah_mendelsohn@us.ibm.com
> Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 8:20 AM
> To: Henry S. Thompson
> Cc: Dan Connolly; www-tag@w3.org
> Subject: Re: should CSS, HTML, etc. documents bear version 
> information? (XMLVersioning-41?)
> 
> 
> First of all, I agree with pretty much everything that Henry 
> has written in his note.  One refinement I would suggest:
> 
> Henry Thompson writes:
> 
> > What's important here is that consumers' wishes are 
> paramount, but it 
> > _is_ none-the-less possible for producers to state their wishes as 
> > well.
> 
> I don't think it's in all cases expressing a wish.  Even in 
> the typical case where the consumer has to make the ultimate 
> decision on how to process information, how much validation 
> to do, against what rules, etc. 
> it can be very useful to allow the producer to indicate what 
> rules he or she used in creating the content.  For me, that's 
> the fundamental reason for allowing language or specification 
> identifiers.  Sometimes it's worth the trouble, sometimes 
> it's more confusing than helpful.
> 
> Also:  I think it's important to realize that having a single 
> version identifier is in tension with allowing distributed 
> extensibility.  As long as you have a language that's evolved 
> reasonably centrally, it's tractable for those involved to 
> coordinate labeling of version information.  When you have 
> compound languages that allow piece parts to be invented by 
> more or less anyone, then you may have HTML version x, with 
> div #1 embedding an SVG version #2, or even in the worst case 
> div#3 being a wrapper for some content originally authored by 
> someone else in SVG version #1.  It may even be that someone 
> has just added a few local attributes to an otherwise 
> standard HTML page.  In such cases, trying to label a 
> document with a single language version is at best a 
> compromise, and at worst inappropriate.
> 
> --------------------------------------
> Noah Mendelsohn
> IBM Corporation
> One Rogers Street
> Cambridge, MA 02142
> 1-617-693-4036
> --------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>

Received on Tuesday, 3 April 2007 15:40:03 UTC