Re: ISSUE-54: doctype-legacy-compat

Henri Sivonen 2009-01-16 14.54:
> On Jan 16, 2009, at 14:14, Sam Ruby wrote:
>> Jirka Kosek <jirka@kosek.cz> wrote on 01/09/2009 04:53:21 AM:

    [... the "legacy-compat" problem -...]
>> Second, Chris Wilson has indicated[4] that he is not happy with 
>> legacy-compat, and at that point we no longer have consensus.
>>
> I agree with the point Chris made about the ambiguity of what legacy the 
> compatibility is about. That is, authors might think that 
> "legacy-compat" means compatibility with legacy consumers rather than 
> legacy producers.
> 
> This is a reason why "XSLT-compat" is better. It's clear that it's there 
> for compatibility with a pre-existing W3C spec.

Compatibility with a "pre-existing W3C spec" is a good point. But 
isn't it the *old style DOCTYPE syntax* rather than old style 
tools we want to support? Focusing on the syntax would give even 
users of old style tools a reason for not using the compatibility 
DOCTYPE! (Wheras "XSLT-compat" would could lead to "aha, this is 
for me".)

Hence, something like this - or similar:

<!DOCTYPE html public "oldstyle">

I think that the use of "oldstyle" rather than "compat" would make 
it more unattractive and more difficult to misunderstand.

[ My primary reason for preferring "" over "legacy-compat" or 
"XSLT-compat" is that I feel both ar misleading. Hence this 
proposal, with a string that I find more meaningful.]
-- 
leif halvard silli

Received on Friday, 16 January 2009 18:19:10 UTC