- From: Jason White <jason@jasonjgw.net>
- Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 15:02:28 +1000
- To: public-html <public-html@w3.org>
On Tue, Aug 14, 2007 at 10:19:56PM -0500, Robert Burns wrote: > I agree with Jason 1005. I'd like to add that @usemap on INPUT is really > the same thing as @usemap on IMG. Its the same feature supported in a > polymorphic manner. Itt may not have been implemented correctly in UAs, > however that can be dealt with by filing bug reports. The fact that it's > not correctly implemented in UAs may also pint to the reason and the > solution to why it has not been widely used by authors. Or rather, this may explain why it has been used incorrectly by authors. Let's review the strength of the case for omitting it: There is (apparently unpublished) research purportedly showing that it is widely misused, and in the researcher's opinion, its misuse (combined with UA implementation inconsistencies) comprise good grounds for removing it. However, as has been pointed out in other discussions within the working group, this kind of research is superficial in that it fails to explain why the feature is misused. In general terms, there are numerous reasons why a feature may be widely misused (or under-utilized), or why it may be implemented inconsistently. Perhaps it is under-specified; perhaps there are historical reasons (e.g., compatibility issues arising from early implementations that haven't been made interoperable); perhaps the fiunctionality it provides isn't judged to be sufficiently useful to be implemented; perhaps there are bugs in implementations that haven't been fixed; perhaps authoring tools that support it have associated bugs, poor user interfaces with respect to this feature, etc.; perhaps the education of authors in its use has been inadequate - and surely this is not an exhaustive list of possibilities. As the foregoing list implies, the problem can be addressed in any of these areas: UA implementations, authoring tools, usage guidelines and educational materials. That a feature is not used, or misused, need not point to a design flaw. On the other hand, knowing why a feature isn't applied correctly or implemented consistently makes it possible to consider a range of solutions, some of which would involve modifying the spec, perhaps redesigning the feature, or indeed eliminating it altogether. The central point here is that jumping straight from empirical findings about misuse to normative proposals as to omission of the feature, is not only rationally unsound but it also forecloses the other design choices available to the working group, in the event that proper analysis exposes a problem that warrants changes to the design of HTML.
Received on Wednesday, 15 August 2007 05:02:49 UTC