[Bug 16908] BOM should not be recommended

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=16908

Leif Halvard Silli <xn--mlform-iua@xn--mlform-iua.no> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
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--- Comment #1 from Leif Halvard Silli <xn--mlform-iua@xn--mlform-iua.no> 2012-05-02 17:08:38 UTC ---
(In reply to comment #0)

    OBJECTION:

I disagree with the XML Core WG's justification for the proposed change. But if
the following arguments does not convince you, then I could live with *not*
declaring any particular method as "preferred".

    ARGUMENTS: 

Motivation for declaring BOM as the preferred method, is polyglotness.

Have the XML Core WG considered arguments about how BOM makes HTML *more*
polyglot? In particular, have you considered the following 3 points: ?

1) BOM allows to skip a HTML specific element
2) BOM takes effect in both HTML and XML.
3) BOM makes encoding handling of HTML and XML more equal,
    as it leads HTML-parsers to behave more like XML-parsers.

    Explanation of point 3):  

#XML: Because it would trigger fatal error, XML parsers do not permit users to
accidentically or manuallly override the encoding of a polyglot XML-file -
regardless of how the encoding is signalled. Hence, in an XML parser, such a
file is encoding safe in the sense that manual or accidental overriding (of the
UTF-8 encoding) is impossible.

#HTML: HTML always allow encoding overriding. Except when there is a BOM: "the
byte order mark (also known as BOM) is considered more authoritative than
anything else." 
<http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/encoding/raw-file/tip/Overview.html#decode-and-encode>
Meaning overriding is impossible. (Already implemented in IE, Chrome, Webkit.)

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Received on Wednesday, 2 May 2012 17:08:41 UTC