Re: [Xsltforms-support] Is XForms a failure to learn from?

On Sun, 12 Oct 2014 11:07:41 +0200
Alain Couthures <alain.couthures@agencexml.com> wrote:

> All,
> 
> Having a look at AB/2014-2015 Priorities/w3c work success 
> (https://www.w3.org/wiki/AB/2014-2015_Priorities/w3c_work_success), I 
> can read that XForms is one of the "failures to learn from".
> 
> Surely, there is a lot to be said about XForms as a failure. In this 
> list of "failures", I would personally add XSLT and XQuery for very 
> similar reasons, and surely SVG some years ago, if they all had to be 
> considered as effective Web, or client-side, technologies.
> 
> What do you think? Shouldn't we write what has to be written?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> -Alain

Hello Alain

I am not an expert in the field, but I would not call XForms a failure.
Though I suppose it does depend on what the measure is.

If I were looking for something that would have made it come together
better, it would have been a tool, a main tool, a browser or something,
that brought all the ideas together in a demonstrable and useful
product.

Having said that, it is a shame it has all [arguably] struggled along
for reasons which I suspect are down to other commercial vested
interests by big players and their take-up or lack of, any proposed
standards adoption.

I still believe the XML based 'tools' (XForms, and associated concepts
e.g. XRX) are extremely important and its too easy to cast them off.

This comment from a reply to your post "...the W3C...should just
make its own browser with ALL its XML standards implemented." (Stephen
Cameron)  is not a shout without serious merit in my opinion too.

Not wishing to distract from supporting the previous idea, was not
XSmiles an attempt to have a go at doing the XML standards compliant
browser. 

Whatever, I still try to use XForms and it will only fail for me if the
clever and supportive open-source community minds keeping tools going
in some form or another, actually give up. To them, including you for
XSLTForms, I am grateful!

I wish there was some push by W3C to resurrect (if some feel it has had
its day) and bring it all together in a serious meaningful way. There
would always be a market I'm sure.....creative non-mainstream people
like to push boundaries   :-).

Regards
Chris H.

Received on Tuesday, 14 October 2014 17:17:55 UTC