Re: The Problem With <NOSCRIPT>

*Daniel Byrne
*e-mail :dwb1@ee.msstate.edu
*Phone #(601) 325-6157
*Dan the man with the plan wants to shake your hand.

> Has anyone else noticed the fundamental flaw in the <NOSCRIPT> tag as
> currently implemented?  Consider the following page (sans DOCTYPE):
> 
Great idea.  Maybe we can lobby wc3.  I am sure this assoication hgas
enough clout.  We just need to elect some representatives.
> 
> However, that ain't how it works.  Try it in MSIE 3.x or Communicator
> and you'll see absolutely NO output...either way.  Why?  Because while
> they don't recognize "Foo" script (thus skipping the <SCRIPT> tag), they
> parse <NOSCRIPT> contents *only if scripting is disabled*...whether they
> understood the <SCRIPT> tag that immediately preceded it or not.
> 
> The HTML 4.0 draft specification only makes matters worse.  It
> depreciates the use of the LANGUAGE attribute for <SCRIPT> in favor of
> the TYPE attribute.  Y'know, JavaScript 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2 ALL share the
> "text/jss" MIME type!  THIS DOES NOT HELP.
> 
> Here's what I propose.  Before the LANGUAGE attribute can be
> depreciated, it needs a replacement that will adequately substitute for
> the information that it provides.  To that end, I propose allowing the
> <NOSCRIPT> tag to take the TYPE attribute, as well as developing a new
> VER (version) attribute that would apply to both <SCRIPT> and
> <NOSCRIPT>.  With those changes, the above page would look like this:
> 
> <html>
> <head>
> <title>Document Title</title>
> </head>
> <body>
> <script   type="text/foo" ver="1.0">Boogedy!<br></script>
> <noscript type="text/foo" ver="1.0">
> What language is "Foo?"<br>
> </noscript>
> End of text.
> </body>
> </html>
> 
> In this model, the <NOSCRIPT> tag is activated if the browser does not
> understand the script language specified in the type/ver attrbute pair -
> in this case, FooScript 1.0.  The code will still degrade well on
> non-scripted browsers (identically to the current model), and would
> operate better on future browsers.  Unfortunately, nothing short of
> manufacturer patches will fix existing browsers.
> 
> -- 
> 
>  Rev. Robert L. Hood  | http://rev-bob.home.ml.org/
>    Rage InfoCentral   | http://rageccg.home.ml.org/
>    CCG InfoCentral    | http://rev-bob.home.ml.org/info_cen.html
>  Chattanooga, TN LARP | http://paradigms.home.ml.org/
>   Get Off The Cross!  | http://gotc.base.org/
> 

Received on Wednesday, 16 July 1997 00:44:22 UTC