Re: HTML 4.02

On 24 Aug 2009, at 22:20, Robert J Burns wrote:

> To avoid the same autocratic problems the WG already suffers under,  
> it would be nice to say a bit why you don't like autocomplete. If  
> it is your own personal spec, the autocratic method is fine, but if  
> you want a community of authors to adopt it, you should at least  
> meet that community half way.

As I said, I created it as a spec that I'd want to use. If other  
people want to use it, that's great, but if I'm the only one, then  
that's OK too.

As to why I don't like the autocomplete attribute - its sole purpose  
is to disable a very user-friendly feature. If banks and the like  
want to use autocomplete="off" then that's their choice, but that  
doesn't mean it has to validate.

> One question about the doctype declaration. Is it a standards mode  
> invoking declaration?

If browsers see a doctype that they've never heard of, they tend to  
default to standards mode. I guess they think "you're doing something  
complicated, so I'll assume you know what you're doing!" The HTML  
4.02 doctype tag triggers standards mode everywhere I've checked.

Tab Atkins Jr wrote:

> For example, does any major browser implement <script implements>?  If
> so, how do you use it?

I'm really not sure. I don't think any do. Lack of support hasn't  
caused me any problems *yet*. It may be possible to implement support  
for @implements using Javascript itself.

> Similar, is <access> or @inputmode implemented anywhere?

@inputmode is mostly intended for mobile browsers, so it's not  
surprising that support is not found in any desktop browsers. It's  
supported in the Blackberry browser I'm told. Plus the Opera core  
engine supports it, though this support is switched off in the  
desktop version of Opera.

I don't think <access> is implemented anywhere, but it is certainly a  
good candidate to implement in Javascript and run as a user script  
(e.g. Greasemonkey for Mozilla) or embed on a page.

> If you're including <time>, are you including all the things that are
> referred to in its section in the HTML5 spec?

The HTML 4.02 DTD includes a <time> element which has the same  
content model as any normal phrase element such as <span>. The only  
difference is that it includes a @datetime attribute.

> Without any sort of even vaguely objective criteria, though, how are
> we supposed to know if these solve any relevant problems?

I don't see why a vaguely objective criteria for having ruled things  
in or out of HTML 4.02 is a prerequisite for analysing whether HTML  
4.02 solves a given document markup problem.

-- 
Toby A Inkster
<mailto:mail@tobyinkster.co.uk>
<http://tobyinkster.co.uk>

Received on Tuesday, 25 August 2009 23:40:02 UTC