Re: [XBL] XBL 2.0 Language usability

On Thu, 5 Oct 2006 karl@w3.org wrote:
>
> The specification might be misused because of [the changes from XBL1 to 
> XBL2].
>
> Changing names might be ok. But renaming an element by giving it a name 
> of another elements is leading to troubles.

While true, in this particular case since the elements have different 
namespaces, and since XBL1 never had a large user base, we feel the new 
names are worth any minor migration pain that may occur. In practice, it 
is nearly impossible to not notice the difference, since the elements have 
radically different behaviour and picking the wrong one will have 
completely different effects.


> There is also the element attribute, which will be more than confusing 
> for many people. ex: "The binding element attribute is element"

Actually that's not really been very confusing so far. I originally 
thought it would be (IIRC it wasn't me that came up with that name), but 
it hasn't been nearly as confusing as I had predicted.


>    XBL 1       XBL2
>    content     template
>    children    content
>
> Then it is possible to write in the _same_ specification, things like 
> "content" element has been deprecated. content element is …

I'm not sure what you mean here; nothing is deprecated in XBL2.


> It is often said by some groups inside and outside W3C. That usability 
> of the language is very important. For example, some people complained 
> about the "l" element in XHTML 2.0. XBL 2 is taking the same road? Is it 
> the only possible solution?
>
> Please minimize ambiguities by changing names.

The current names were the result of a significant investment in time 
trying to get various vendors agreed, and I really don't want to reopen 
that discussion at this late stage...


Please let me know if you disagree with this.

Cheers,
-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'