[Bug 10862] New: Remove the newly added "s" element

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=10862

           Summary: Remove the newly added "s" element
           Product: HTML WG
           Version: unspecified
          Platform: Macintosh
        OS/Version: Mac System 9.x
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: HTML5 spec (editor: Ian Hickson)
        AssignedTo: ian@hixie.ch
        ReportedBy: shelleyp@burningbird.net
         QAContact: public-html-bugzilla@w3.org
                CC: mike@w3.org, public-html-wg-issue-tracking@w3.org,
                    public-html@w3.org


A new element was recently added to the HTML5 specification. 

Adding new attributes and elements, or removing existing attributes and
elements, is a major change. Such changes should be discussed in the group
email list before being dumped into the specification.

Using a single letter to address an element has been discouraged in the past,
and rightfully so. The letter "s" might be meaningful for a snake, but not for
people. The fact that it is supposedly to mark text that is no longer relevant
or correct can't be determined just by looking at the element.

In addition, the web is mutable, not static. If text is incorrect or no longer
relevant, most web sites either adjust the text or remove the text. The example
shows a price change in a web site -- can you imagine Amazon doing something
like this? Amazon just changes the price. End of story, and no confusion.

If people want to use this as a marketing technique, as the example
demonstrates, then they can use strike-through text to mark out the old value,
because the use of an element makes no sense -- the fact that the text has
changed isn't meaningful, the use in this case is a marketing ploy.

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Received on Thursday, 30 September 2010 15:37:30 UTC