Re: ISSUE-95 hidden - Chairs Solicit Proposals

Tab Atkins Jr., Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:03:36 -0600:
> I think @declare is a completely opaque name in this context.  I've
> never heard of the @declare attribute before,

If you haven't *heard* about it, then you haven't read whether HTML4 
nor the HTML5 spec draft. 

> so I don't associate any
> meaning with it, and it's about as useful as saying that we should
> change @hidden to @foobar.

We cannot build anything on the fact that you have not read HTML4 and 
HTML5.

Now to the two relevant issues you bring up:

> I believe the vast majority of authors are similar to me, in that
> @declare carries no legacy meaning,  and the normal english meaning of
> the word doesn't help you decipher what it does in this instance at
> all.

(1) Regarding "legacy meaning", then regardless of whether an author 
has heard about it today, @declare exists in HTML4, and HTML4 is 
available online and described in thousands of tutorials - for example 
w3schools.com [1]. By replacing @hidden by @declare, we make HTML5 
smaller - since it removes @declare from the obsolete features sections.

(2) Regarding "decipher what it does", then I claim that "the vast 
majority of authors are similar to me" in finding that "hidden" does 
make anyone decipher _correctly_ what it means. It is a _feature_ that 
authors has to make some effort in order to understand what it does and 
means.

Thirdly, I think you should consider that we are debating a feature 
that is proposed to be deleted and that it is could be useful to 
consider if @declare would have a higher chance of becoming a amicable 
solution. 

[1] http://www.w3schools.com/TAGS/tag_object.asp
-- 
leif halvard silli