Comment on M12N: XML Schema Module Dependencies

First, it is great to see forward progress on this important activity.  I 
personally view XHTML M12N as one of the single most important efforts 
currently underway at the W3C.  Thanks for a great product.  I am looking 
forward to using these modules.

If it is not too late, I just attempted to use the XHTML schema modules to 
define a subset of XHTML for content snippets.  This particular application 
is to use HTML tags as content of <description> and <synopsis> elements 
within a resume/CV schema.  However, the same XHTML subset would be widely 
applicable by Content Management Systems and web content authoring 
generally.  This may be the single most common use case for 
markup.  Downstream systems will typically assign a CSS style sheet.

First, I had difficulty getting a subset to validate.  It could be that I 
was going about things the wrong way.  Basically, I created a new "hub" 
document that included all of the framework and only certain other modules: 
text, hyperlink, list (core less structural).

The problem: the framework schema modules have "forward" dependencies on 
script elements (which I am actively looking to exclude).  Attempts to 
include only a subset of the framework were not successful as the entire 
model is defined in a single file.

Second, although the functional breakdown of the core modules is perfectly 
sensible, it does not work for my intended use.  I want <p> but not 
<div>!  I want <br/> but not <span>.  As implemented, these are lumped 
together.  Likewise, <strong> and <em> are lumped in with a large number of 
unwanted inline elements: abbr, acronym, cite, code, dfn, kbd, q, samp, 
var.  Ditto for h1 thru h6, which are lumped in with address, blockquote, 
and pre.  <img> is OK, but <object> is not.  I am not fixed on the exact 
elements, but I hope the gist is clear.  Only simple, logical elements are 
wanted.

Third, for many of the elements, it would highly desirable to disallow most 
attributes.  For simple content, any script or style related attributes are 
not wanted.  The "class" attribute is OK.

Perhaps it is my ignorance of XML Schema and everything I want to do is 
possible.  In which case, I second the comments from the XML Schema group 
about the need for examples.

Thanks for reading,
Charles Reitzel

Received on Thursday, 27 March 2003 19:02:29 UTC