[Bug 13531] use of implicit labels in examples

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=13531

--- Comment #14 from John Foliot <john@foliot.ca> 2012-01-06 21:20:06 UTC ---
(In reply to comment #13)
> 
> John, let's not bring irrelevant things into the discussion.

With due respect, the relevance here is found in the word philosophy. 

As Steve noted in his post to the html-public mailing list
(http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2012Jan/0009.html) there is a
design philosophy disconnect going on here.

We have been told, repeatedly, that HTML5 is documenting what works, and not
what we wish would work. Ian has on more than one occasion suggested that
"specing" something that browsers will not implement is creating fiction. Yet
now we have Anne stating that:

   "Examples that do not work everywhere yet is not a reason to change
the examples. It's an incentive to get the software fixed."

Yet, despite being in the HTML4 spec for more than a decade, we still do not
have cross browser support for implicit labels, so clearly here the incentive
has not worked, or (as I have argued with regard to other attributes) we need
to be patient and wait, as the trailing software will ultimately get fixed.  

If that is the case (which is what Anne appears to be stating now), then we
*can* accept that total adoption by the browsers of any element or attribute is
not a requirement for insertion or retention of said elements or attributes; at
which point that decision can be equally applied across the board for other
decisions still to be resolved - such as @longdesc. If what Anne wrote is
indeed true, then we can also state:

     "Examples (of @longdesc) that do not work everywhere yet is not a reason
to <del>change the examples</del><ins>deprecate @longdesc</ins>. It's an
incentive to get the software fixed."

It's about the philosophy.

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Received on Friday, 6 January 2012 21:20:27 UTC