Re: Proposal: @parsing="loose | strict"

Doug Schepers On 09-07-14 09.16:

> [...] I propose a new attribute, 'parsing', which, when 
> placed on the document root, defines the type of parsing which a UA must 
> use when parsing the document. [...]


> This way, authors could optionally enforce strictness when they want or 
> need to, and then change/remove the value when they are ready for 
> publication, or when the needs change.  It is possible that there would 
> be instances where strict parsing makes it out of development and into 
> production code, but this would have relatively few negative 
> consequences (the kind of author who uses this would probably product 
> strict code anyway, and would know it if they didn't), and would be 
> easily corrected.  And, quite frankly, some people simply prefer 
> stricter parsing for aesthetic or whatever, and this would provide them 
> with that option while not imposing it on others.


The idea reminds a little about the "unready" stamp I proposed 
some time ago. But would it not better to solve this problem by 
introducing a new media type for authoring tools? For example:

	@media authoring  {parsing:strict;}
                          /*could be default for
                            authoring media*/

Because the focus in what you talk about really is authoring.

I imagine that well behaved user agents should allow users  to 
select the media type with which they prefer to browse the current 
web page. E.g. the Amaya browser-editor allows you to select media 
type in this way.

Today we edit web pages with our browsers. This has some (WYSIWYG) 
advantages. But it still seems that we need different things from 
an WYSIWYG editor compared to what we need from a browser. For 
instance, we may need a simpler stylesheet that focuses more on 
the structure than on the splendid design. So a media type for 
authoring could be useful for much more than operating with 
another the parsing method.

Also, if - as you say - strict parsing is also related to 
security, then  parsing should not be completely in the hands of 
the author. One should think  that UA vendors would also like to 
offer the extra security of parsing the page strictly, and inform 
the user when it doesn't. (Though may be the security aspect must 
be kept separate from the media type problem.}

Rather than something that only solves /one/ aspect of the 
authoring problem, we should think of something that solves /more/ 
sides of the (WYSIWYG) authoring problem.
-- 
leif halvard silli

Received on Tuesday, 14 July 2009 12:32:36 UTC