Re: What <object> represents in different views (detailed review of Semantics)

At 21:10 +0200 UTC, on 2007-09-01, Simon Pieters wrote:

> (This is part of my detailed review of the Semantics and structure of HTML
> elements section.)
>
> The spec says about <object>:
>
>     In the absence of other factors (such as style sheets), user agents
>     must show the user what the object element represents. Thus, the
>     contents of object elements act as fallback content, to be used only
>     when referenced resources can't be shown (e.g. because it returned a
>     404 error). This allows multiple object elements to be nested inside
>     each other, targeting multiple user agents with different capabilities,
>     with the user agent picking the best one it supports.

{frown} how does the UA decide on "best"?

> However, what about the case where the UA supports the primary format but
> it can't be "shown" in a particular view (e.g. an image when reading the
> document aloud)? Shouldn't the fallback be used in such cases, just like
> alt="" would be used for <img>?

That's certainly what most would expect, yes. I don't know why the spec
specifically and only lists 404s as an excuse to fallback. Surely the reason
a resource isn't presented is irrelevant? When it isn't presented, the UA
must fallback to the <object>'s contents.


-- 
Sander Tekelenburg
The Web Repair Initiative: <http://webrepair.org/>

Received on Saturday, 1 September 2007 22:18:31 UTC