Proposed amends to <small> element

Hi list

Following IRC discussion  
http://krijnhoetmer.nl/irc-logs/whatwg/20090115#l-272, I'd like to propose  
that the <small> element be allowed to surround block level elements, so I  
can write

<small>
<ul>
<li>I'm no <abbr>PHP</abbr> coder, so it isn't pretty</li>
<li>There's no copyright (the only copyright stuff in this design are the  
logo and background images which aren't in the download)</li>
<li>I'll change it on Friday and again next week</li>
<li>I may change it at any time after feedback</li>
<li><small>It's packaged "as is", and you'll need to change it, although  
I've noted where it requires a certain plug-in</small></li>
<li><small>It's for educational purposes only; I make no guarantees for it  
and will not support it</small></li>
</ul>
</small>

rather than surround each individual textual item with a <small> element.  
Many legalese passages are multiple paragraphs.

(In the wild example  
http://www.brucelawson.co.uk/2009/redesigning-with-html-5-wai-aria/)


This will make it easier to author, and thereby promote use of it to mark  
up "small print (part of a document often describing legal restrictions,  
such as copyrights or other disadvantages), or other side comments".

I'd also like to propose an editorial change to the spec: "disadvantages"  
should be changed to "caveats", as copyright is not necessarily a  
"disadvantage"

-- 
Bruce Lawson

Received on Thursday, 15 January 2009 16:15:38 UTC