Re: Deciding in public (Was: SVGWG SVG-in-HTML proposal)

a) I think most of the members of the WG believe the ability to mix
existing languages on web pages (SVG, MathML) inside HTML is a good
idea.  Though the form of how this will work for SVG is still being
discussed

b) Some of the members of the WG want the potential to integrate
future languages into web pages without having to add those elements
to the HTML language (decentralized extensibility)

c) There is a way to both of the above right now with existing
technologies (using XML serializations)

d) It appears that the IE Team wants HTML extensibility [1] but does
not believe XHTML is the right approach [2] and has other ideas behind
HTML extensibility [3]

Can we please understand the arguments from the IE team around why
they believe XHTML is not a good approach?  At one time, Chris, you
seemed in favour of the approach [4], yet it seems that we are no
closer to having an IE implementation of it years later.

We cannot definitively say why XHTML has not been successful on the
web - is it because of the less-forgiving XML syntax or is it because
the potential audience/readership is an order-of-magnitude smaller?

I know there are many opinions out there on this topic.  Please let's
not turn this into the same XML pro-con debate - I've heard those
arguments from both sides over and over.  I'm just trying to
understand the reasons behind Microsoft's stance or plans.  Something
that is notoriously difficult to obtain it seems ;)

Thanks,
Jeff

[1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2008Jul/0197.html
[2] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2008Jul/0302.html
(last paragraph)
[3] http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ProjectName=ie8whitepapers&ReleaseId=573
[4] http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/09/15/467901.aspx   "I
personally want XHTML to be successful in the long run"  "I love
XHTML"

Received on Friday, 1 August 2008 19:52:55 UTC