[Bug 23175] New: Use of <cite> in <blockquote> has conflicting semantics

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=23175

            Bug ID: 23175
           Summary: Use of <cite> in <blockquote> has conflicting
                    semantics
           Product: HTML WG
           Version: unspecified
          Hardware: All
                OS: All
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: HTML5 spec
          Assignee: dave.null@w3.org
          Reporter: josh@joshtumath.me.uk
        QA Contact: public-html-bugzilla@w3.org
                CC: mike@w3.org, public-html-admin@w3.org,
                    public-html-wg-issue-tracking@w3.org

The recent changes in the definitions of <cite> and <blockquote> have been a
massive improvement. However, consider the following example:

  <blockquote>
    Who is your favourite doctor (in <cite>Doctor Who</cite>)?
    - <cite>John Smith</cite>
  </blockquote>

We can see that, in that blockquote, there are two different uses for <cite>.
The first represents the title of a work, and the second represents the source
of the quote. Therefore, there is no semantic way to differentiate between the
former and latter meaning.

Therefore, I'd like to propose that it should be a requirement for authors to
specify the source of a quote inside the <footer> element; rather than this
just being optional.

Note that this is not a problem with inline quotes, because the <cite> would be
outside the quote tags:

  <q>Who is your favourite doctor (in <cite>Doctor Who</cite>)?</q>
  - <cite>John Smith</cite>

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Received on Friday, 6 September 2013 14:07:44 UTC