Suggestion of <sar>

Dear XHTMLWG,

I propose a new tag; the <sar> tag.

I believe that such a tag would be very useful in the ever-expanding range
of uses for (X)HTML, especially in e-mail.
The <sar> tag would represent a sarcastic remark, such as:
    <l>Oooh, a sarcasm detector, <sar>what a great idea</sar></l>
to avoid confusion over such issues.
As to the method of graphical representation; I leave that to the experts.
But it would certainly be relatively easy to aurally represent.

If it is considered that the <sar> tag is too narrow, how about a <tov> tag
(standing for Tone Of Voice) or tov attribute, such as:
    <l>Oooh, a sarcasm detector, <span tov=ēsarcasticē>what a great
idea</span></l>

Although this seems like a sarcastic or silly idea, I assure you I am
serious.  I use (X)HTML e-mail a lot and find huge problems, some of which
people attempt to overcome by the use of pathegraphs (emoticons).  These
however do not do the job.  Huge problems with online misunderstandings
could be averted with the introduction of a tag to mark up content as with a
tone of voice.  Other suggestions for tov= attribute: sincere, serious,
melancholic, pensive etc.

This is simply a suggestion.  I leave the rest to the experts at the W3C who
have superbly completed their purpose in the past.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Cordover

Received on Saturday, 14 June 2003 07:28:18 UTC