- From: Paul Prescod <papresco@calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca>
- Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 02:54:32 -0400
- To: w3c-sgml-wg@w3.org
David Durand wrote: > I think losing PEs is losing a very great deal, but simplifying them might > be a practical necessity. I can't address the politics of this, but consider > that wihtout PEs some very important DTDs are going to be _very_ hard to wedge > into XML. I think that in a real sense, killing parameter entities would be killing DTDs in XML. Even a DTD as (relatively) simple as HTML uses parameter entities for: * "element classes" (e.g. %lists; , %headings; ) * data types * content models * marked sections I have never written a DTD that did not use them. I believe that when they are used well they help readability as much as reusability. I argued at the beginning of this entire process that XML didn't need DTDs. Those that wanted to validate could use SGML without even changing their instances, I argued. But I was assured that DTDs were important. Now we are proposing to cripple them to the point of near uselessness. Aa David says, we can simplify them if necessary, but lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Paul Prescod
Received on Friday, 20 June 1997 02:54:37 UTC