Re: Comments in markup?

Albert Lunde <Albert-Lunde@nwu.edu> wrote:
>At 6:22 PM 7/29/96, Foteos Macrides wrote:
>>	So isn't it in fact true that the ONLY way to include script
>>code "100%" safely in an HTML document instance is as an encoded (hex
>>or BASE64) attribute value?
>
>While this has some merit, it may run into another set of problems due to
>SGML or implementation limits on the size of attribute values.

	Yes, the RFC for the data: URL is going to have a reminder that:

"URLs embedded within <A> anchors in HTML have a length limit determined 
 by the SGML declaration for HTML[RFC1866]. The LITLEN (1024) limits the
 number of characters which can appear in a single attribute value literal,
 the ATTSPLEN (2100) limits the sum of all lengths of all attribute value
 specifications which appear in a tag, and the TAGLEN (2100) limits the
 overall length of a tag."
 
	But it you're dealing with a script which would cause those
limits to be exceeded, you're better off pointing the SRC attritute
at a standard URL for fetching the script, rather than inlining the
code via a data: URL or as raw SCRIPT content.


>(Some options, including this and the CDATA marked sections may also be
>unpopular as being hard to type and/or not enough like the popular flavors
>of script/tag soup.)

	I don't see why the marked sections approach, per se, would
seem any more strange than the comment-encasing (if you look at the
examples of each in the full SCRIPT draft, to the naive eye they're
rather similar).  The problem is that neither can be made 100%
reliable, and both are perversions of SGML rather than a fuller
embodiment of it.  Also, since MicroSoft has implemented the data:
URL, it presumeably with be providing ways to use in via authoring
tools, and other clients and authoring tools are likely to follow
that lead.

				Fote

=========================================================================
 Foteos Macrides            Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research
 MACRIDES@SCI.WFBR.EDU         222 Maple Avenue, Shrewsbury, MA 01545
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Received on Monday, 29 July 1996 19:49:59 UTC