[Bug 22232] New: Introduce new elements now so that we will be able to replace recycled elements in the future

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=22232

            Bug ID: 22232
           Summary: Introduce new elements now so that we will be able to
                    replace recycled elements in the future
    Classification: Unclassified
           Product: HTML WG
           Version: unspecified
          Hardware: PC
                OS: Windows NT
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: HTML5 spec
          Assignee: dave.null@w3.org
          Reporter: ian.html@gmail.com
        QA Contact: public-html-bugzilla@w3.org
                CC: mike@w3.org, public-html-admin@w3.org,
                    public-html-wg-issue-tracking@w3.org

Hi editors,

As you may have heard about that many developers don't quite like the idea of
recycling old elements such as u, i, b, and small.

So the proposal here is introducing replacement elements as early as possible.
The reason to do so is to make HTML5 elements more semantics and standardized.
And it's not like we should keep using u, i, b, and small forever.

Introducing replacement elements, while temporarily keep the recycled elements,
can make browsers start to implement replacement elements. Once all browsers
have implemented all replacement elements, we can safely remove those recycled
elements from HTML5 spec.

Some suggestion of replacement elements are:

For u (a span of text with an unarticulated, though explicitly rendered,
non-textual annotation), we can introduce something like <annot>.

For i (a span of text in an alternate voice or mood, or otherwise offset from
the normal prose in a manner indicating a different quality of text), we can
introduce something like <alt>.

For b (a span of text offset from its surrounding content without conveying any
extra emphasis or importance, and for which the conventional typographic
presentation is bold text), we can introduce something like <offset>.

For small (represents side comments such as small print), we can introduce
something like <note>.

Of course, the above mentioned naming of replacement elements might not be the
best. The idea here is aim to make browsers being prepared with replacement
elements as early as possible so that we can safely drop the recycled elements
from HTML5 spec as early as possible.


Sincerely,
Ian Yang

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Received on Saturday, 1 June 2013 07:22:56 UTC