Re: <q> and commas

2008/10/30 Dave Singer <singer@apple.com>

>  At 11:45  +0000 30/10/08, Sam Kuper wrote:
>
> 2008/10/30 Philip TAYLOR <P.Taylor@rhul.ac.uk>
>
> Sam Kuper wrote:
>
> (A) In cases where the author has used constructions like <q>"(A
> quote.)"</q>, the markup is invalid under HTML 4.x,
>
>  Why do you assert that, Sam ?
>
> From HTML 4.01 spec, section 9.2.2 [1]:
>
> "Authors should not put quotation marks at the beginning and end of the
> content of a Q element."
>
> [1]http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/text.html#h-9.2.2
>
> And if the quoted material validly begins and ends with quotation marks,
> why not?
>

Whoa, I didn't write the HTML 4.01 spec! I'm not the one who decided that
that spec should say that.


> I am quoting material which itself contains quotation marks.  e.g.:
> from 'No Name' by Wilkie Collins: <q>"Do I understand", he said, "that you
> are entirely deprived of present resources?"</q>
> (which is probably why it is a 'should' and not a 'must' not).
>

I don't have a problem with this, and I have no objection to HTML 5
permitting it (that is, not proscribing it in any way).


> You might think to solve this by matching opening and closing quote marks,
> but there's nothing to say I cannot quote only a single phrase of direct
> speech.
>

I certainly wouldn't think of trying to solve this by matching opening and
closing quote marks, not least for the reason you've given.

All the proposals I've made about <q> in the recent threads on the topic
take this into account.


> By the way, are you sure you know what a quote mark *is* in all typographic
> conventions around the world?  (" ", ' ', << >>, ...)
>

I'm pretty sure I don't, and haven't suggested that I do!

Regards,

Sam