Re: Does XHTML2 need the <title> element?

Joris Huizer wrote:

> --- Ernest Cline <ernestcline@mindspring.com> wrote:
> > 
> > With the way that the title element is definined in
> > the working draft, 
> > I would say that XHTML2 does not need the title
> > element. Anything that 
> > it can do can be just as adequately done by the
> > title attribute of the 
> > html element. (Note: The html element did not have a
> > title attribute in 
> > earlier (X)HTML specifications.) Unless the title
> > element is changed to 
> > have content beyond PCDATA, I see no need to retain
> > the title element 
> > and have a title attribute on the html element at
> > the same time. 
> > Simplicity and orthogonality would argue that the
> > title attribute would 
> > be the preferable choice.
> > 
> 
> Sorry, but I think that will increase the chaos with
> the 'title' attribute. It's a mess allready as
>  <link title="green site" type="text/css"
> href="green.css" />
> means something totally different than
>  <a href="green.html" title="view my green
> site">...</a>
> 
> Just my opinion :-P

I'll agree that using the title attribute to indicate whether an 
external style sheet is the preferred stylesheet is kludgy. However, 
since XHTML2 doesn't have to be backward compatable, it would be 
possible to change this behavior so that the only thing that the title 
attribute does is provide an advisory title. Perhaps the navindex 
attribute could be used instead with external stylesheets so that a 
navindex of 0 indicates the preferred stylesheets?

Received on Tuesday, 22 April 2003 13:25:13 UTC