[XHTML2] exclude switch and case as presentational

The XHTML2 Forms module includes switch and case elements, but it is
pretty clear from the XFORMS 1 specfication that these are presentational/
hehavioural elements and therefore shouldn't be in a structural language.

The give away that they are presentational is the statement that they
are there to control whether or not parts of the document are *rendered*.

The XFORMS document is also a bit confused about its use of the
term user inteface(s), their being about three possible meanings:

a) the abstract user interface;
b) a subset of that abstract interface that is sufficient for a 
   particular application;
c) the subset that is currently displayed.

(a) would be a valid concept for XHTML, and is what the start of the
    user interface chapter seems to talk about.

(b) would be a valid concept as would the XFORMS group concept in which
    controls are functionally grouped.

However a number of things indicate that user interface in the case of
switch is (c), which is basically an attempt to abstract a tabbed 
dialogue page [A], which is still really an explicit physical pagination.

One of the things that excludes interpretation (b) is the explicit statement
that switch and case are not about relevance.  The other, of course, is
the explicit statement that it is about what gets rendered.

[A] although they cannot fully represent a tabbed dialogue because the
behavioural aspects don't implement the tabs, in fact any label doesn't
get rendered in a disabled pane.

Received on Friday, 10 June 2005 22:20:01 UTC