Re: charset attribute on a, link and script elements

Hello Richard,

On 2010/04/22 19:38, Richard Ishida wrote:
> The HTML5 spec currently says:
>
> "The following attributes are obsolete (though the elements are still part of the language), and must not be used by authors:

Shouldn't this say "though the attributes are still"?

> charset on a elements
> charset on link elements
>      Use an HTTP Content-Type header on the linked resource instead."
>
> Could someone please explain for me/point me to the thread that gives answers to the following questions:
>
> 1. Why is charset on link and a deprecated?

When we put these in with RFC 2070, this was really a stopgap measure 
because the idea of adding charset information to HTTP (and to content) 
was very new and only starting to catch on. It took quite a bit longer 
to catch on than we hoped, but if the HTML5 folks have decided that 
these are no longer needed, they probably have done this based on data 
that they have.

> 2. Why is charset on script not treated the same way as charset on link?

Scripts (which in practice means Javascript) don't have a way to 
indicate encoding internally.

> 3. Why the recommended alternative for charset on link doesn't mention in-document declarations such as @charset, especially since http headers are not available when the CSS is not read from a server.

Good question. I think the text should just say "Provide charset 
information with the resource itself" or something similar that is 
independent of the details (HTTP header or wherever), which are given 
elsewhere.

Regards,   Martin.

> Thanks,
> RI
>
>
> PS: In case it saves time for future discussions, you can find some test results for use of link and charset on major browsers at http://www.w3.org/International/tests/tests-html-css/tests-character-encoding/results-css-encoding.
>
> ============
> Richard Ishida
> Internationalization Lead
> W3C (World Wide Web Consortium)
>
> http://www.w3.org/International/
> http://rishida.net/
>
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>

-- 
#-# Martin J. Dürst, Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University
#-# http://www.sw.it.aoyama.ac.jp   mailto:duerst@it.aoyama.ac.jp

Received on Friday, 23 April 2010 11:33:33 UTC