MathML in HTML: syntax for hypertext links

> Was for example the xhtml2 style of href on all html elements
> considered and rejected for html5, or has it just not come up?

I'm assuming the answers just crossed in the mail with this question,
but just in case...

It was rejected, because the browser makers refused.  Their most
clearly stated objection is that they couldn't come up with a
reasonable User Interface.

Nested hrefs were the biggest (but not the only) concern.

<table href="1.html">
  <tbody href="javascript:mutate_the_table();">
    <tr href="3.html">
      <td href="javascript:change_the_looks();">
        <div href="5.html">
          <span href="6.html">
            <a href="7.html"><img href="8.html" alt="" height=500></a>
          </span>
        </div>
      </td>
      <td href="9.html" valign=center>text</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Should the whole table change color when you hover over it?  If so,
will there be a good way to discover the inner hrefs, since they'll
already be in the same color as a hovered link.

What should happen if you click on the image?  Should the javascript
hrefs fire?

Even assuming that only the lowest-level href gets activated, If you
try to click on the text, how close do you have to be before it counts
as clicking the text rather than the surrounding td?  Does it matter
how tall the font is?  The specific letters?  (T vs y)

Today's user interface has no nested hrefs (and even nested handlers
has had interop problems), and there is always at least a little space
between adjacent links (unless CSS has overruled that -- in which case
they are already effectively boxes rather than inline phrasing).  This
allows a certain amount of invisible target near the real target, to
at least reduce frustration.  By allowing overlapping and nested hrefs
... that gets harder.

-jJ

Received on Wednesday, 8 April 2009 04:37:41 UTC