Re: <IMAGE>? <TT> == <I>? toHell(NS)

Scott E. Preece wrote:
> Well, you can say that all you like, but in fact the sequence is
*not*
> clear, it is inherently ambiguous and there is no "right" way to
render
> it.  You're saying "Oh, well, the author must have meant to have
those
> two tags intertwined and not nesting, so let's render it that way." 
Not
> only is this a guess (I can't say why you seem to think it isn't)

I consider it an assumption that is not in conflict with the 3.2 ref
spec. You say treatment of bad HTML is undefined, then defend NS's
inconsistent behavior in the face of it as reasonable guessing. I think
it is not that difficult to formulate a consistent set of assumptions
to apply in the face of bad markup (and noted that IE fails to). I
don't think it needs to be law. I think it should be in the form of
recommendations in a reference spec, and considered good manners to
abide by. Outside of thinking NSN's treatment of <TT>text</I> is not at
all desirable and in conflict with the closing tag rule, I don't much
care what the assumptions are.

> SGML does not allow for non-hierarchical markup.  It is
> *impossible* to have an element start inside another element and end
> outside it.

No more impossible than closing a tag that isn't open. The construct
that started this sub-thread was <TT>text</I>. Opening and closing tags
are required. There is no opening tag for italic. Therefore <TT> is not
contained in italic markup and <TT> should not be terminated by </I>.

David Perrell

Received on Wednesday, 30 October 1996 15:14:30 UTC