BUTTON element

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I'm a bit confused by HTML 4.0's introduction of the BUTTON element.  It 
seems to me that this element is new, unsupported, not backwards-
compatible, and presentation-based.  The HTML 4.0 draft describes it as 
follows:

- ----
A BUTTON element whose type is "submit" and whose content is an image 
(e.g., the IMG element) is very similar to an INPUT element whose type is 
"image". They both cause a form to be submitted, but their presentation is 
different. In this context, an INPUT element is supposed to be rendered as 
a "flat" image, while a BUTTON is supposed to be rendered as a button 
(e.g., with relief and an up/down motion when clicked).
- ----<URL:http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-html40/interact/forms.html#h-9.1.2.2>----

Declaring how elements are "supposed to be rendered" seems strange given 
the draft's overall emphasis on platform independence and structural 
markup.

Does anyone know why BUTTON was introduced, and why a structural element 
was not used instead?  Perhaps changing the name to ACTION (better 
suggestions?) would at least eliminate the element's apparent focus on 
presentation.

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Liam Quinn
===============  http://www.htmlhelp.com/%7Eliam/  ===============
Web Design Group            Enhanced Designs, Web Site Development
http://www.htmlhelp.com/    http://enhanced-designs.com/
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Received on Tuesday, 15 July 1997 23:48:44 UTC