Re: [XHTML2] Spirit of "1.1.3. XHTML 2 and Presentation"

Ian Hickson <ian@hixie.ch> wrote:

>XHTML2's "1.1.3. XHTML 2 and Presentation" section says:
>
># XHTML 2 takes HTML back to these roots, by removing all presentation 
># elements, and subordinating all presentation to style sheets.
>
>This, while technically true, does not seem completely consistent with the 
>inclusion of the style="" attribute (in section 27 XHTML Style Attribute 
>Module).

I don't see that particular conflict, the statement doesn't say that all
presentational attributes have been removed, and inline css qualifies as
a "style sheet".

Maybe there is a case for considering the style element as
presentational, this would result in a conflict with the statement that
xhtml 2.0 has removed all presentational elements.

>I feel that the intent of removing all presentational aspects 
>from the language is to be applauded and would like to ask for the purely 
>presentational style="" attribute to be removed.

Maybe there are cases where the style attribute is useful, I
occasionally use them with my locally running rewriting http proxy. It
uses S&R to find elements that can then be rewritten. I value the option
to insert inline css to selected elements. I could have the tool
generate a custom external stylesheet on the fly and link that into the
document, but doing so would be much more work.

During development I may also temporarily insert inline css, for example
if I suspect that a cascade order issue may prevent a rule from
applying, or simply because it's easier than having to switch to the
external style sheet.

I frequently cringe when seeing "wild" html with inline css and large
amounts of css in the document head repeated in every single document.
There even appear to be tools around that default to inserting inline
css. Dropping the style attribute and possibly the style element could
help in combatting such usage, but I have reservations on whether that
qualifies as a valid reason to remove the style attribute and element.

-- 
Spartanicus

Received on Sunday, 29 May 2005 13:56:39 UTC