[Bug 16908] New: BOM should not be recommended

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=16908

           Summary: BOM should not be recommended
           Product: HTML WG
           Version: unspecified
          Platform: PC
        OS/Version: Linux
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: HTML/XHTML Compatibility Authoring Guide (ed: Eliot
                    Graff)
        AssignedTo: eliotgra@microsoft.com
        ReportedBy: ht@inf.ed.ac.uk
         QAContact: public-html-bugzilla@w3.org
                CC: mike@w3.org, public-html-wg-issue-tracking@w3.org,
                    public-html@w3.org, public-xml-core-wg@w3.org,
                    eliotgra@microsoft.com


The BOM is rarely used, and unfamiliar to many users.  Making it the
'preferred' way to indicate UTF-8 Character Encoding in polyglot is unhelpful
and potentially off-putting.

The XML Core WG requests the relevant paragraph in section 3, Specifying a
Document's Character Encoding, be changed to read as follows:

   Polyglot markup uses the UTF-8 character encoding, the only character
   encoding for which both HTML and XML require support. HTML requires
   UTF-8 to be explicitly declared to avoid fallback to a legacy encoding
   [HTML5]. For XML, UTF-8 is an encoding default. As such, character
   encoding may be left undeclared in XML with the result that UTF-8 is
   still supported [XML10].

   Polyglot markup declares the UTF-8 character encoding in the following
   ways, which may be used separately or in combination:

   * Within the document
     . By using <meta charset="UTF-8"/> (the HTML encoding
        declaration) -- preferred
     . By using the Byte Order Mark (BOM) character.

   * Outside the document
     . . .

Submitted on behalf of the XML Core WG

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Received on Wednesday, 2 May 2012 14:28:18 UTC