Logical/Contextual elements

On Thu, 10 Jul 1997 Russell Steven Shawn O'Connor wrote:

> On Thu, 10 Jul 1997, Scott Matthewman wrote:
> [..]
> > To support HTML 4.0 new browsers will have to be made.
> > Let's all go home now ;-)
> > 
> > A FILENAME element fits the model in that it's contextual; I guess it has
> > extra subtleties compared to, say, SAMP. Sounds OK to me...
> 
> If we support FILENAME, then what?  There are millions of possible
> contextual mark up.  As I understand this is the whole reason why GML was

A good point, BUT.... who knows what will occur in the future. Some
elements will appear more necessary, esp. if you use such an
element. Why not some general contextual elements that can cover a
wide range of possible things.

There's already CODE, KBD, CITE, etc The following would be very 
useful (some are part of HTML 3.0 anyway):

 PERSON
    A person's name. Tells indexers not to stem proper names. Can
    also include LANG for pronunciation, a link to more information
    on this person,E-mail,  etc. Useful for building an index.  Possibly
    adding attributes to note if person is AUTHOR or CONTRIBUTOR
    to the document etc.
 DFN
    Definiting instance. Can include an ID or NAME for links to the
    definition Useful for building indexes of terms in glossaries
 ACRONYM and ABBREV
    Can include LANG, expanded word/phrase or link to definition
 URL or FILENAME
    Markup of a resource, with possible pointers/links to info about
    the file, MIME type, where it can be found, etc.
 KEYWORD
    Marks the place of an important concept discussed in the 
    document, useful for building indexes of terms.
 TERM or PHRASE
    For 'italicizing' spacial or foreign terms or phrases, can include 
    a LANG attribute for pronumciation, possible a definition, etc.
    Can help software that automatically translates documents.
 PLACE
    For noting a geographical location. LANG pronunciation guides,
    or links to information about that place.
 DATETIME
    For noting dates or times.  (In some cases indexers may want
    to ignore these)  Or possibly linking to a another resource. Can
    also help software that automatically translates documents...

The above is a wish list, but if  nothing else, browsers that
'support' them can by default make no change can be made in the
markup, but they can act as stubs for style changes using style
sheets and also function as logical markers to searching and
indexing.

And let's not forget MATH tags.... (it would make my life a lot 
easier if browsers supported them now, but the project I am working on
can't wait a year or two or three...)

Rob

 
---
Robert Rothenburg Walking-Owl (wlkngowl@unix.asb.com)
Se habla PGP.
http://www.asb.com/usr/wlkngowl

Received on Thursday, 10 July 1997 16:51:17 UTC