Re: Change Proposal for ISSUE-154, was: ISSUE-154 link-sidebar: Chairs Solicit Proposals

On 2011-08-03 15:59, Sam Ruby wrote:
> Julian:
> ...

Like that...?

-- snip --

SUMMARY

The "sidebar" link relation is defined as:

"The sidebar keyword indicates that the referenced document, if 
retrieved, is intended to be shown in a secondary browsing context (if 
possible), instead of in the current browsing context."

Tests show that UAs differ in what they do, and that none of the UAs 
actually do what the spec says.

RATIONALE

Testing with five UAs shows:

3 UAs (IE / Chrome / Safari) ignore the link relation, thus navigate to 
the linked resource.

2 UAs (Opera and FF) open their "bookmark" dialogue, and stay on the 
current page.

None does what the spec describes.

I therefore recommend to remove this on the grounds of the description 
not reflecting reality at all, and it being unclear whether anybody 
actually wants this as specified. Instead, the "sidebar" link relation 
can be treated as any other proposal for a new link relation (follow the 
process of getting it into the specified registry instead of into the 
HTML5 spec itself).


DETAILS

Remove the subsection "4.12.4.13 Link type "sidebar"" and the related 
entry under "4.12.4 Link types".

Instead, follow the process for new link relations, by proposing this 
over at microformats.org.

IMPACT

1. Positive Effects

People who want this link relation to be valid will have to follow the 
WG-approved process to make it valid. When it is registered it will 
likely have a more accurate description.

2. Negative Effects

None.

3. Conformance Classes Changes

The link relation "sidebar" becomes invalid until registered.

4. Risks

None.


REFERENCES

[1] <http://www.w3.org/html/wg/tracker/issues/154>
[2] <http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=11183>

Received on Wednesday, 3 August 2011 14:15:08 UTC