Re: Welcome to our Publishing CG

> HTML finally grew out of its "No, do it my way!" adolescence, and unless/until EPUB does the same,
>it will never be a truly competitive doc format.
>
Interesting position, James – as many of us here feel that this “feature” of HTML is actually the reason it can never be a “document format”.

When one thinks about a document, especially a “document of record”, they think of something that is designed to withstand the test of time by utilizing consistent standards that are not designed to change “on a whim”.  In addition, users have certain expectations of what a document can (and cannot) do – such as “phoning home” – that are exactly the opposite of what HTML wishes to do.

So EPUB, as building on top of HTML, makes a lot of sense…but the more we let the barn door open to leverage more of that “living standard”, the further we get from a reliable document format. (IMO)

Leonard

From: James Gifford <james.gifford@nitropress.net>
Date: Monday, January 29, 2024 at 4:05 PM
To: Will Crichton <crichton.will@gmail.com>, Wolfgang Schindler <ws.schindler@googlemail.com>
Cc: public-publishingcg@w3.org <public-publishingcg@w3.org>
Subject: Re: Welcome to our Publishing CG

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On 1/29/2024 1:53 PM, Will Crichton wrote:
My main goal is to make HTML documents an acceptable format in academia.

You've got my vote, here. HTML completely fell out of favor as a document format and is seen by too many as suitable only for structured web pages. It's possibly the best, most flexible, most widely accessible document format there is, with the caveat that there's absolutely no way to rights-protect it.

As a companion to PDF  — which has other, complementary strengths — HTML/CSS needs to be restored as a general long-form document format.

Without, *ahem* the many strictures and stumbling blocks of its implementation within EPUB — mostly the disastrous and crippling lack of standardization in readers. HTML finally grew out of its "No, do it my way!" adolescence, and unless/until EPUB does the same, it will never be a truly competitive doc format.



  —James Gifford

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