[whatwg] Pre-defined classes and conformance

Henri Sivonen wrote:
> 
>> When an author uses a new class name not defined by either this 
>> specification or the Wiki page, conformance checkers may offer to add 
>> the value to the Wiki, with the details described above, with the 
>> "proposal" status.
> 
> It has been pointed out to me that the offers would drive developer crazy.

That and you'd get tons of thoughtless registrations by people trying to get
the conformance checker to shut up. Defining rel values makes sense. They're
only used if the author wants a specific behavior. Class values, on the other
hand, whether or not they're used with semantics in mind, their primary purpose
is as a style hook. They're the utility knife of the web design world. They're
used not only for semantically organizing page elements, but also as ways to
hang decorative images, tag elements for scripting, and work around innumerable
browser bugs and limitations. Trying to constrain their use is imho unwise.
When Tantek ?elik comes to the WHATWG or the HTMLWG and says "I want a central
registry for class names", then make one. Until then, I suggest simply leaving
this domain to the ?F guys (and gals).

~fantasai

Received on Friday, 11 May 2007 19:01:11 UTC