Re: ISSUE-4: Versioning, namespace URIs and MIME types

Larry Masinter wrote:
> * The question was about a "way of indicating" (for authors);
...
> It's an illusion to document and specify a mode and then label it
> "non-conforming and not used". Interpretation modes in receivers
> are dialects in senders. If you have modes, you have versions.

This does seem to be a substantial philosophical difference.

If you assume as premises that:

1)  Not all possible outputs are conforming.
2)  Handling of all possible inputs must be specified.

then a corollary is that you specify handling of non-conforming input. 
That's the situation that quirks mode is in right now.  A quirks-mode 
document is not conforming HTML5 (most immediately because it lacks the 
magic bit at the beginning that says "I'm HTML5").  However, HTML5 
specifies what an HTML5 UA is to do with such a document.

So to understand where you're coming from, do you disagree with either 
of the numbered points above?  If not, do you disagree with the 
corollary?  If not, is the point that you think that there should be an 
HTML5-conformant way to trigger modes other than standards mode?  If so, 
why?

Or am I missing the point entirely?

-Boris

Received on Thursday, 19 February 2009 04:59:44 UTC