Re: proposal to explicitly forbid <small> use as subheadings

Hi Jukka,

The WHATWG definition for <small> is "side comments such as small print",
> which is very vague and almost sounds like what <small> has always meant
> in HTML and will always mean, whatever specs might say: smaller font size.
> But WHATWG defines the element so cryptically that we could spend the rest
> of our lives discussing it without ever really agreeing, or understanding
> each other.
>
> In any case, WHATWG seems to be saying that <small> is *not* for
> de-emphasis.
> So as an author, you would violate the rules
>


if you were writing the definition of <small> what would it be?

--

Regards

SteveF
HTML 5.1 <http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/>


On 7 June 2013 11:36, Jukka K. Korpela <jukka.k.korpela@kolumbus.fi> wrote:

> 2013-06-07 12:48, Patrick H. Lauke wrote:
>
>  What if, as an author, I *do*  want to mark my subheading with <small>
>>
> > because I believe that part of the heading should be naturally
> > de-emphasised?
>
> The WHATWG definition for <small> is "side comments such as small print",
> which is very vague and almost sounds like what <small> has always meant
> in HTML and will always mean, whatever specs might say: smaller font size.
> But WHATWG defines the element so cryptically that we could spend the rest
> of our lives discussing it without ever really agreeing, or understanding
> each other.
>
> In any case, WHATWG seems to be saying that <small> is *not* for
> de-emphasis.
> So as an author, you would violate the rules
>
>
> > What if it was mandated that you "must not" use <small> for
> > subheadings...is there any reliable programmatic way to flag that up
> > as a validation error?
>
> Of course not. It could not be done even using the most advanced
> artificial intelligence
> we can imagine, because the definition is vague and subjective. If there
> are no
> objective criteria for being a subheading (in the logical sense), there
> cannot be
> any objective analysis of such rules.
>
> Using <small> inside a heading element should be encouraged, not forbidden.
> In situations where one cannot rely on style sheets, it is the only way to
> give part
> of a heading smaller font size, which in turn may be essential for
> conveying
> the message of a heading properly. Whether you call such a part a
> subheading or
> just a less important part or something else is up to you
>
> --
> Yucca, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~**jkorpela/ <http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/>
>
>
>