RE: WOFF and extended metadata

I must admit I've stopped understanding the logic by which we should both specify a metadata 
format that people should respect but random XML can also be included because it is desirable
and easy to render such random data; if the output thus produced is sufficient for all metadata 
and users then rendering arbitrary XML in a canned generic manner is all a UA ever needs to 
bother with as this will, by definition, also render whatever metadata format the spec cares to 
define in a reasonable manner.

So either we specify a format or we don't. 

If we do specify one, I would like us to either:
1. Say that this schema is all browsers will render. Any extraneous unknown XML is ignored. 
2. Define a clear extension mechanism for font vendors who want to add their own metadata,
metadata that all browsers must render in addition to the elements specified by the spec.

Options that include both a well-defined schema and the total absence of one are, imo, 
meaningless from a conformance standpoint unless, maybe, everyone here considers a 
raw View-Source as appropriate. If it is, then I have no objection. 

But if it is beneficial for font vendors  that the metadata be accessible to users in a processed 
form distinct from its raw format, if UAs have no way of telling which XML is more or less beneficial 
to the user - and they don't - then UAs really should write a generic XML rendering control. At which 
point we as a WG are wasting our time defining a format that every browser can and will treat as 
just any other piece of XML.

Received on Thursday, 27 May 2010 23:56:43 UTC