Issue 83 Change Proposal - <fbody>, <dbody>

This is a change proposal that is built atop Maciej's proposal,
introduced in http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2010Jan/0560.html.
 The text of my change proposal can be found at
http://esw.w3.org/topic/HTML/ChangeProposals/DdDtFbodyDbody.  For
convenience, I also reproduce the text here:


Summary
=======

This change proposal proposes changes identical to DdDtFcaptionDlabel,
but with optional fbody and dbody elements that can be used to wrap
the contents of the elements (the figure, in the case of <figure>, or
the details, in the case of <details>).


Rationale
=========

All reasoning given in the rationale section for DdDtFcaptionDlabel
applies equally here, except for the final one, "Does Not Introduce
Redundant Elements for the Content".

In addition, authors will very commonly style the contents of a
<figure> or <details> in addition to the caption/summary of such.
While some styling can be easily done by directly referencing the
relevant child elements, in many cases it is easiest to apply styling
with a wrapper element around the contents. Rather than requiring the
use of a <div> in such a common circumstance, an <fbody> (for
<figure>) or <dbody> (for <details>) element can be used to explicitly
group the contents together.


Details
=======

Most of the necessary changes are already detailed in
DdDtFcaptionDlabel. In addition, the following changes would be
required:

Two additional elements would be created, <fbody> and <dbody>.
The content model of <figure would be changed to "Flow content or
fbody element, optionally either preceded by or followed by an
fcaption element; the content model of <details> would be changed to
"One dlabel element, followed by Flow content or dbody element."
Content models of both fbody and dbody are "Flow content", with
content descriptions matching the current descriptions given in figure
and details of the element's figure and details, respectively.
It is an error for a <figure> or <details> to have multiple <fbody> or
<dbody> elements. It is an error for <figure> or <details> to have an
<fbody> or <dbody> child and additional flow content children. All
content that is not the figure caption or details summary, however, is
the figure or details of the element.


Impact
======

All of the impact detailed in DdDtFcaptionDlabel applies equally here.
In addition, authors would have a dedicated element they could reach
for when needed to aid in grouping together the content of <figure>
and <details, with clear mental parallels to the existing heading/body
structure embodied currently in the <thead> and <tbody> elements for
<table>.




(References to DdDtFcaptionDlabel are referring to Maciej's change
proposal, linked at the beginning of this message.)

~TJ

Received on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 21:58:27 UTC