Re: sgml-lex: White space in tags?

% From: John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com>
% 
% A question came up at my site about whether white space is acceptable
% in tags, and I was unable to figure out from the stuff I could find at
% the W3.org web site whether this is valid or not.
% 
% It's extremely unfortunate that HTML is based on a proprietary spec
% that we can't distribute online.  I hope W3C is trying to remedy this
% situation.  How much money would it take to pry loose the SGML spec
% from ISO for public distribution without restriction?  I can attempt
% to provide or raise this money, if they have a price.  If they refuse
% to permit public use at any price, I think the HTML community should
% duplicate the work (to the extent that we need it) and separate from
% the SGML community.
% 
% I tried reading the HTML lexical analyzer to answer the question, but
% it uses features of flex that I've never seen before and don't
% understand.
% 
% Here's the specific issue:
% 
%     When doing HTML anchors (links), the closing ">" on the <A HREF...> 
%     element needs to be in contact with the rest of it:
% 
%     <A HREF="/pub/join/index.html">Join EFF today</A>!
% 
%     not:
% 
%     <A HREF="/pub/join/index.html"
%     >Join EFF today</A>!
% 
%     Netscape is smart enough to parse the 2nd example, but many other 
%     browsers aren't.
% 
% I think this is incorrect; I hope the spec allows arbitrary white-space
% inside the < ... > delimiters.  But, it's sad but true, I can't find
% a spec for this.


White space is allowed as in the second example. This applies to start tags and
end tags. White space is not allowed between the "<" and the "A", as this
changes it from being a start tag to being just the two characters "<" and "A".
White space is allowed before, between, and after attributes. You can check
these with James Clark's SP package, at www.jclark.com/sp.html.

cheers,

Lauren

---

Lauren Wood, SoftQuad, Inc.

Received on Thursday, 19 September 1996 19:46:24 UTC