RE: declarative expressons in WF2

Dave Raggett wrote:
> The use of declarative representations allows the
> authoring tool to recover the original context when the
> editor next loads the document. If the application is
> largely defined in JavaScript, the editor won't be able
> to map that back to something simpler for the non-techie
> author. Authoring tools can make use of proprietary
> solutions for recording declarative info, but this locks
> the author into that tool. Open standards for declarative
> representations avoid that lock in, creating a level
> playing field. A simple expression language for HTML
> forms would be an important part of this.

While I agree with that assertion...

> I have yet to hear any substantive technical barriers and
> the implementation is straightforward as I have
> demonstrated. I really don't understand the reluctance of
> most people on this list to embrace an opportunity to
> make HTML authoring accessible to a much wider range of
> people.

...I'm concerned about where the arbitrary limits will be set and how the
design of a subset architecture might be forced to evolve. In my experience
everytime I see a group create a subset language it often grows to become a
bastardized version of the original because it wasn't originally architected
for extension and because needs for flexibility push the language to be more
than it was ever designed to be.

I believe the scope of this issue is large enough it should be addressed by
its own working group with people who have programming language design
experience as opposed to just markup language design experience.  In other
words, seperation of concerns should apply here.

JMTCW, anyway.

-- 
-Mike Schinkel
http://www.mikeschinkel.com/blogs/
http://www.welldesignedurls.org
http://atlanta-web.org - http://t.oolicio.us

Received on Monday, 26 March 2007 19:23:58 UTC