RE: [Serialization] Why an xhtml output method?

I think that the answer to this is that so long as W3C feels that XHTML has
a role, then XSLT ought to support it. I have certainly seen enough
complaints from users about the lack of this capability in XSLT 1.0 to feel
that there is a demand that needs to be met. We still have some work to do
on conformance options in the serialization module, however, and I don't
think we have necessary made a decision that every processor must support
every output method.
 
The justification for an XHTML output method is to produce a dual-purpose
result document - one that will display in a browser as if it were HTML,
while also being amenable to further processing by XML software. Without
this requirement, you could just produce a result tree conforming to the
XHTML DTD, and serialize it once as XML and once as HTML.
 
It's not top of the list of requirements (it's shown as a "could" in the
agreed requirements document), but in my view there is sufficient demand to
justify its inclusion.
 
Michael Kay  
 
 
  -----Original Message-----
From: Svgdeveloper@aol.com [mailto:Svgdeveloper@aol.com] 
Sent: 02 June 2003 09:16
To: public-qt-comments@w3.org
Subject: [Serialization] Why an xhtml output method?



I would be interested in an explanation of why an xhtml output method is
included in the Serialization document and why it has been designed as it
has.

On the face of it, the xhtml output method seems primarily to be designed to
accomodate legacy browsers. I wonder if that is sufficient justification for
its inclusion. If there are other significant factors then it would be
useful if those were elaborated.

Thanks.

Andrew Watt
"XHTML 2.0 - the W3C leading the Web to its full potential ... to implement
yesterday's technology tomorrow"