- From: Steve <liberty@i1.net>
- Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 18:10:19 -0500
- To: www-html-editor@w3.org
I have just completed reading the referenced document (downloaded via
<http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-html40-19980424/html40.zip>). First I'd like
to say the documents are very thorough and very well done. However, as in
any large work of this magnitude, there are a few corrections needed:
Significant Errors
- From "cover.html," when I clicked on the "3. On SGML and HTML" link,
Netscape 4.04 for the Macintosh crashes loading the referenced page. This
is probably a Netscape problem, however, I eliminated the crash by removing
the <DFN> element from around the "Boolean attributes" content of one of
the "tocxref" classed anchors within "intro/sgmltut.html". (The cover page
available via the Internet [i.e., <http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/>] is
significantly different [even though they are both dated 24-Apr-1998!] so I
can't tell whether the problem is just with the contents of the zipped file
or not.)
- In "intro/intro.html" under "2.1.1 Introduction to URIs": The anchor
around [RFC2068] should probably have class="normref" instead of
class="informref".
- In "intro/sgmltut.html" under "3.2.1 Elements": In the paragraph that
starts "Please consult the SGML standard..." the phrase "an end tag closes
all omitted start tags up to the matching start tag" is unclear (the start
tags aren't ommited, are they?). Shouldn't it read "an end tag closes all
start tags up to its matching start tag" [without the word "omitted" and
"the" changed to "its"]? Or maybe better yet: "an end tag closes all start
tags associated with omitted end tags up to its matching start tag".
- In "intro/sgmltut.html" under "3.3.3 Element declarations": In item 2
of the ordered list, shouldn't "Whether the element's end tag is optional"
read "Whether the element's tags are optional"?
- In "conform.html" under "4.1 Definitions": Under the subhead
"Deprecated ", the anchor around [CSS1] should probably have
class="normref" instead of class="informref".
- In "types.html" under "6.2 SGML basic types": It seems to me "a
summary of key information" for the PCDATA type has been overlooked. (When
this information is added, don't forget to update "dtd.html" to point to
the new information similar to the other SGML basic types.)
- In "types.html" under "6.9 Character encodings": The anchor around
[CHARSETS] should probably have class="informref" instead of
class="normref".
- In "struct/global.html" under "7.5.2 Element identifiers: the id and
class attributes": In the second last paragraph, which begins "By
setting...", item 2 ("override class style information with instance style
information") implies that the id attribute must have a value in order to
use the style attribute of an element. This is only correct if you don't
consider the "style" attribute "instance style information".
- In "struct/global.html" under "7.5.6 The ADDRESS element": Under
"Attributes defined elsewhere" both "title" & "style" are part of
"%coreattrs" and should be shown with appropriate links.
- In "struct/tables.html" under "11.2.5 Table rows: The TR element":
Under attribute defined elsewhere, the transitional attribute "bgcolor" is
missing.
- In "struct/objects.html" under "13.7.2 White space around images and
objects": The "hspace" and "vspace" attributes are not here marked as
deprecated, yet they are only in the transitional DTD.
- In "struct/objects.html" under "13.7.4 Alignment": The "align"
attribute is not here marked as deprecated, yet it is only in the
transitional DTD. Also, I don't understand why "align" is not handled
similar to "border" (above it) with italisized "Attribute definitions" and
allowed values shown as "bottom|middle|top|left|right". (I realize the
information is all there, but why the different presentation?
- In "present/styles.html" under "14.1 Introduction to style sheets":
Under the subheading "Independence from specific style sheet languages ,"
the anchor around [CSS1] should probably have class="normref" instead of
class="informref".
- In "present/styles.html" under "14.2 Adding style to HTML": The anchor
around [CSS1] should probably have class="normref" instead of
class="informref".
- In "present/styles.html" under "14.3.2 Specifying external style
sheets": Under the second bulletted item, the "type" attribute should
probably have an anchor element around it with an appropriate destination.
- In "present/styles.html" under "14.4.1 Media-dependent cascades": In
the example, the STYLE element does not specify a "media" attribute but the
descriptive text immediately above it says, "The color rule defined by the
STYLE element is used for print and screen but not for aural rendering."
Why is aural excluded? Is the example missing a "media" attribute?
- In "present/graphics.html" under "15.3 Rules: the HR element": The
"align" attribute appears under both "Attribute definitions" and
"Attributes defined elsewhere". I presume it doesn't belong under
"Attributes defined elsewhere".
- In "present/frames.html" under "16.2.2 The FRAME element": The
attributes "marginwidth" and "marginheight" are defined to have a value
greater than one. Was *greater than or equal to" one intended? (I couldn't
figure any reason why the margins couldn't be one, so I'm just guessing
that I caught an error. I wouldn't be the least surprised to learn I was
wrong.)
- In "present/frames.html" under "16.3.1 Setting the default target for
links": In the second paragraph, "factorizing" is not a word in any
dictionary I looked in. "Factoring" was probably intended.
- In "interact/forms.html" under "17.2.1 Control types": Under the
subhead "hidden controls", the anchor around [RFC2068] should probably have
class="normref" instead of class="informref".
- In "interact/forms.html" under "17.13.4 Form content types": Under the
subheading "multipart/form-data", within the paragraph that begins 'The
content "multipart/form-data"...', the anchor around [IANA] should probably
be class="normref".
- In "interact/scripts.html" under "18.2.1 The SCRIPT element": The DTD
fragment doesn't contain the "for" attribute which is present in both the
Strict and Transitional DTDs. <!ENTITY % LAlign "(top|bottom|left|right)">
- In "sgml/dtd.html": The line "<!ENTITY % LAlign
"(top|bottom|left|right)">" is from the Transitional DTD and is
unneccessary in the Strict DTD.
- In "sgml/loosedtd.html" under "NOFRAMES": Am I reading the loose DTD
correctly in that it seems to state that, for 4.0 Frameset, NOFRAMES must
include one and only one BODY element that cannot contain NOFRAMES? In
other words, in "ENTITY % noframes.content" (for the Frameset DTD),
shouldn't there be an asterisk after "(BODY)"?
- In "appendix/notes.html" under "B.4 Notes on helping search engines
index your Web site": Under the subheading "Provide keywords and
descriptions", in the sentence "The value of the name attribute sought by a
search attribute is not defined by this specification", the word
"attribute" after "search" should probably be "engine".
- In "appendix/notes.html" under "B.4.1 Search robots": Under the
subheading "Robots and the META element", appears this statement: "The list
of terms in the content is ALL, INDEX, NOFOLLOW, NOINDEX. The name and the
content attribute values are case-insensitive." This is directly
contradictory with the case sensativity specified under the META element
(see global.html#edef-META).
- In "references.html" under "[URI] ": The anchor around [RFC1738]
should probably have class="normref".
- In "references.html" under "[URI] ": The anchor around [RFC1808]
should probably have class="normref".
Significant Oversights
- In "intro/sgmltut.html" under "3.3.3 Element declarations": Under the
subhead "Content model definitions", when neither "&", "*" or "+" is
appended to an element or group, the implied default is unclear? I assume
the default meaning is "one & only one". Whatever the implied default, it
should be explicitly stated. Cf. the question earlier about "NOFRAMES".
- In "struct/tables" under "11.3.2 Horizontal and vertical alignment":
Under the "align" attribute definition, "left" is indicated as the default
for "table data". Does this include TR and TD. Under the "align" attribute
definition, "center" is indicated as the default for "table headers". Does
this include COLGROUP, COL, THEAD, TFOOT, and TH. In other words, the
current indications for "align" default is unclear regarding COLGROUP, COL,
THEAD, TFOOT and TR elements.
- In "struct/links.html" under "12.2.3 Anchors with the id attribute":
One finds this statement: "The id and name attributes share the same name
space. This means that they cannot both define an anchor with the same name
in the same document." Because each anchor requires a unique identifier,
this makes sense, but the documents don't address the question of backwards
compatability for user agents that recognize "name" but don't recognize
"id".
The example given shows identical "id" and "name" values in disparate
elements. It fails to indicate whether "id" and "name" values can be
identical within one element (e.g., <A NAME="a1" ID="a1"></A>).
Can a valid HTML document have identical values for "id" and "name"
within one element? Are user agents required to recognize either or both?
- In "present/styles.html" under "14.3.2 Specifying external style
sheets": The documents imply that the LINK element's "title" attribute can
group several external style sheets together under a single name placed in
a user agent menu. The documents never mention whether the STYLE elements
"title" attribute, if identical to a LINK element's "title," would apply to
the same group.
- Too often, when I'm viewing "sgml/dtd.html", I come across a type
parameter entity definition about which I can't remember all of the
specifics. It would be much better if the parameter entity definition
linked to its description.
For example, the named anchor (i.e., name="ContentType") around the
ContentType parameter entity definition (in "dtd.html") should have as its
destination the named anchor "types.html#type-content-type". In other
words, said anchor in "dtd.html" should be:
<A src="types.html#type-content-type" name="ContentType">ContentType</A>.
This has already been done for the SGML basic types (CDATA, ID, NAME,
IDREF, IDREFS and NUMBER). Why not for the derived more specific types?
Assuming "->" means "should have as its destination," the effected
anchors (within "dtd.html") would be:
name="ContentType" -> "types.html#type-content-type"
name="ContentTypes" -> "types.html#type-content-type"
name="Charset" -> "types.html#type-charset"
name="Charsets" -> "types.html#type-charset"
name="LanguageCode" -> "types.html#type-langcode"
name="Character" -> "types.html#type-character"
name="LinkTypes" -> "types.html#type-links"
name="MediaDesc" -> "types.html#type-media-descriptors"
name="URI" -> "types.html#type-uri"
name="Datetime" -> "types.html#type-datetime"
name="Script" -> "types.html#type-script"
name="StyleSheet" -> "types.html#type-style"
name="Text" -> "types.html#type-text"
name="Coords" -> "struct/objects.html#adef-coords"
name="Length" -> "types.html#type-length"
name="MultiLength" -> "types.html#type-multi-length"
name="MultiLengths" -> "types.html#type-multi-length"
name="Pixels" -> "types.html#type-pixels"
Of course all of the above holds true for "sgml/loosedtd.html" which
also has:
name="FrameTarget" -> "types.html#type-frame-target"
name="Color" -> "types.html#type-color"
name="OLStyle" -> "struct/lists.html#h-10.3.1"
name="LIStyle" -> "struct/lists.html#h-10.3.1"
- Within the DTDs (i.e., sgml/dtd.html#block, sgml/loosedtd.html#block,
etc.) within every ENTITY definition, every entity that is part of the
definition (i.e., those things inside the quotation marks) *should be* a
link to the entity or element definition in the DTD. For example, in
"ENTITY % block", the P entity is shown but (currently) the P is not a link
to where the P entity is defined in the DTD. It should be.
Minor Typographical Errors
- In "intro/intro.html" under "2.1.3 Relative URIs": In the 3rd item of
the unordered list, shouldn't "applets" be singular?
- In "intro/sgmltut.html" under "3.2.2 Attributes": The sentence
"Attribute names are always case-insensitive" is missing its closing
punctuation.
- In "intro/sgmltut.html" under "3.3.4 Attribute declarations": Just
after the first DTD fragment, it doesn't seem to me that the "Start tag:
required, End tag: forbidden" is relevant to the discussion.
- In "intro/types.html" under "6.5.1 Notes on using colors": The first
sentence needs the indefinite article "a" before the word "document" so the
sentence would read: "Although colors can add significant amounts of
information to a document and make them more readable...."
- In "intro/types.html" under "6.10 Single characters": The first
sentence needs the indefinite article "a" before the word "single" so the
sentence would read: "Certain attributes call for a single character from
the document character set."
- In "struct/global.html" under "7.4.4 Meta data": Under the subheading
"Meta data profiles", in the second unordered list item, the comma should
be removed from the second sentence.
- In "struct/global.html" under "7.5.4 Grouping elements: the DIV and
SPAN elements": In the sentence that begins "Later, we may easily...": It
should read either, "... we may easily add a style sheet declaration to
fine tune the presentation..." [adding the word "a" before "style"], or
"... we may easily add style sheet declarations to fine tune the
presentation" ["declaration" becomes plural].
- In "struct/global.html" under "7.5.6 The ADDRESS element": The
sentence that begins "The ADDRESS element...": needs the indefinite article
"a" before the word "document" so the sentence would read: "... to supply
contact information for a document...."
- In "struct/dirlang.html" under "8.2.3 Setting the direction of
embedded text": In the paragraph that begins "Authors may also...": the
word "multiply" should be "multiple".
- In "struct/text.html" under "9.2.2 Quotations: The BLOCKQUOTE and Q
elements": Within the DTD fragment, I don't see why the "cite" under Q is a
link but under BLOCKQUOTE it is not.
- In "struct/tables.html" under "11.2.6 Table cells: The TH and TD
elements": Immediately before the subheading "Cells that span several rows
or columns", the preformatted block of text mimicking a table does not line
up vertically.
- In "struct/tables.html" under "11.3.1 Borders and rules": The first
sentence under the "frame" attribute should read "This attribute specifies
which sides of the frame surrounding a table will be visible" [substitute
"surrounding" for "that surrounds"].
- In "struct/links.html" under "12.1.2 Other link relationships": The
last sentence should read "Further information is given below on using
links for..." [change "of" to "on"]. This sentence is also missing its
closing punctuation.
- In "struct/links.html" under "12.2.2 Nested links are illegal": The
last paragraph should read "Since the DTD defines the LINK element to be
empty..." [insert definite article "the" before "LINK"].
- In "struct/objects.html" under "13.3.4 Object declarations and
instantiations": In the paragraph that begins "In the following
example...", the phrase "cause it so be instantiated" should be changed to
"cause it to be instantiated" [change "so" to "to"].
- In "struct/objects.html" under "13.6.1 Client-side image maps: the MAP
and AREA elements": Under the "coords" attribute, the word "and" should be
substituted for the word "a" so the sentece reads, "This attribute
specifies the position and shape on the screen".
- In "present/styles.html" under "14.5 Hiding style data from user
agents": In the second paragraph, there should be a comma between "older"
and "non-conforming".
- In "present/graphics.html" under "15.1.3 Floating objects": Under the
subheading "Float an object", in the first paragraph, the first use of the
word "object" should probably be plural so that it reads, "The align
attribute for objects, images...."
- In "present/graphics.html" under "15.1.3 Floating objects": Under the
subheading "Float text around an object", in the deprecated example, the
definite article "the" should be in front of the word "next".
- In "present/frames.html" under "16.1 Introduction to frames": In the
last sentence of the first paragraph, the word "though" should be "through".
- In "interact/forms.html" under "17.1 Introduction to forms": In the
second set of parentheses of the first paragraph, there should be a comma
after "entering text". Also, there should not be a comma after the closing
parenenthesis.
- In "interact/forms.html" under "17.5 The BUTTON element": In the
paragraph that begins "Visual user agents may render...", the indefinite
article "a" should be removed from in front of the word "'flat'".
- In "interact/scripts.html" under "18.2.2 Specifying the scripting
language": Under the subhead "The default scripting language", in the first
sentence of the first paragraph, the indefinite article before
"content-type" needs to be "a", not "an". The same thing applies to
"content-type" in the next paragraph.
Under this same subhead, in the paragraph that begins, "Documents that
do not specify...", the indefinite article "a" needs to be removed from
before "default scripting language information".
- In "interact/forms.html" under "18.2.3 Intrinsic events": In the first
sentence of the first note, the word "realm" should be preceded by the
definte article "the".
- In "interact/forms.html" under "18.2.3 Intrinsic events": Under the
"onfocus" event, the SELECT element is probably missing an anchor.
- In "interact/forms.html" under "18.3.1 The NOSCRIPT element": In the
second sentence of the first paragraph, the word "be" needs to be inserted
between the words "only" and "rendered".
- In both "sgml/dtd.html" and "sgml/loosedtd" in "ELEMENT COLGROUP": The
possible element is shown as "col". It should probably be "COL".
- In "sgml/entities.html" under "24.4 Character entity references for
markup-significant and internationalization characters": The second
paragraph refers to CP-1252 two distinct times: once where "cp is
uppercase, and once where "cp" is lowercase. I assume one of them is a typo.
- In "appendix/changes.html" under "A.1.7 Changes for tables": In the
last sentence of the paragraph beginning "A new element, COLGROUP...", the
phrase "has been" needs to be inserted before the word "replaced". As it
stands, it is too easy to misread.
- In "appendix/notes.html" under "B.5.1 Design rationale": Under the
subheading "Incremental display", at the end of the last sentence of the
last paragraph, the closing parentesis is missing.
- In "appendix/notes.html" under "B.7.1 Reserved syntax for future
script macros": Under the subheading "Current Practice for Script Macros",
the first deprecated example should probably be "<BODY
bgcolor='&{randomrgb};'>" [using "randomrgb" instead of "randomrbg"].
I hope my comments have been helpful and not too trivial.
Steve
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Received on Friday, 8 May 1998 19:11:12 UTC