PLAINTEXT tag

There appears to be no consistency among browsers in the implementation of
the PLAINTEXT tag.  Furthermore, it appears to now be on the "deprecated"
tag list.  Please consider the following comments regarding this tag:

1.	If all that <PLAINTEXT> does is turn off HTML parsing,  without there
being any way to turn parsing back on, the tag deserves to be deprecated
because of its very limited usefulness.

2.	On the other hand, <PLAINTEXT>  coupled with </PLAINTEXT> is very
useful:  I can easily demonstrate a piece of HTML code and show its
rendering;  all I have to do is write the code once, and then copy it
between <PLAINTEXT> and </PLAINTEXT> to demonstrate it.  
	I realize I can achieve the HTML demonstration by using <PRE> and
replacing every angle bracket in the HTML segment by its element code, but
this is  tedious and prone to typos and transcription errors and probably
leads to display code and demonstration code that are out of sync after
only a few changes.  (Shades of trying to keep a program and its flowchart
consistent.)
     
3.  	Microsoft's Internet Explorer and possibly some other browsers
implement the </PLAINTEXT>  tag already. Netscape Navigator does not.  If I
want some measure of compatibility I cannot use <PLAINTEXT> at all.  It
will probaly take some action on your part to goad Netscape into
implementing a tag that was not invented by them.

Please un-deprecate <PLAINTEXT> and couple it with </PLAINTEXT> or, if for
some reason the name PLAINTEXT must die, invent a new tag which allows me
to turn HTML parsing off and back on, anywhere in the BODY including inside
a table cell, etc.

I would be interested in hearing your reasoning on this topic.

Received on Sunday, 21 July 1996 12:41:16 UTC