Re: Feed back on RDFa in XHTML1.1

On Fri, 3 Oct 2008, Dean Edridge wrote:
> 
> I know I have every right to send in this feedback, but [...] and I 
> don't know if it would backfire and Steven tell you to remove every 
> mention of XHTML in the spec :(

He's already tried something like that, there'd be no harm in him trying 
again (in fact, he was one of the people most strongly against the HTML5 
effort when we started, so if it were up to him none of the HTML5 work 
would be happening in the W3C at all).


> And at the same time I feel that the XHTML2 WG is just walking all over 
> us (like how they made you say HTML5 doesn't replace XHTML 
> modularization etc.)

Actually they didn't make me say that, I volunteered to say it and they 
weren't happy with it. They haven't yet told us what they'd like the spec 
to say. But that's all non-normative text, it doesn't really matter. What 
matters is moving the Web forward. We shouldn't let ourselves be dragged 
into the petty politics.


> and we/me/the HTML WG, need to voice to the TAG and others that we are 
> making the next (a) version of XHTML, otherwise people will just assume 
> we're not.

I don't think it really matters if "the TAG and others" think we're making 
a version of XHTML or not; what they think doesn't really affect reality, 
and doesn't stop us from achieving our goals (namely, significantly and 
rapidly improving the Web for the benefit of everyone).


> It's in reply to this email:
> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-tag/2008Sep/0015.html

I hate to be blunt about this, and I mean absolutely no disrespect by it, 
but frankly, they're most likely to just ignore you. I mean, they've been 
mostly ignoring _me_ for almost a decade now, and I've worked for multiple 
member companies, have been a member of multiple working groups, have the 
ear of most browser vendors, and started a competing standards 
organisation that actually got serious traction, threatened the W3C's 
credibility, and has the backing of major players like Google. Yet they 
still do little more than pay lip service to my feedback on W3C matters 
(e.g. including a ridiculous timetable in the HTMLWG charter, starting the 
geolocation group, not publishing HTML5 on time, forging ahead with DRMed 
font formats, etc).

They are totally within their rights to ignore us, and indeed for all I 
know my feedback deserves to be ignored -- my point is just that if they 
ignore _me_, your chances at getting anywhere are even slimmer. Your 
efforts are almost certainly best spent on something more productive to 
society than W3C politics.


Having said all that, I think your e-mail would be fine, if you do want 
to send it.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

Received on Friday, 3 October 2008 02:48:00 UTC