Re: HTML5 script start tag should select appropriate content model according to src

David Woolley wrote:
> Lachlan Hunt wrote:
>> Are you saying you were surprised to discover we weren't developing a 
>> presentational language?
> 
> Yes.  Especially given that its supporters were bandying around terms 
> like "anti-presentationalists".  There are still lots of issues, though, 
> e.g. changing the way character sets are specified without retaining 
> the legacy mechanism (I have more noted and will probably find even more 
> if I can find time to do a proper review).

Are you referring to <meta charset="UTF-8"> now being made conforming? 
Research indicated it is widely supported in browsers already and the 
fact is that the http-equiv="Content-Type" and content="text/html;..." 
boiler plate isn't useful or necessary.

We considered allowing the useless boiler plate code anyway, but it was 
decided that there wasn't any need to make it conforming.  Of course, 
for compatibility, it's use has to be supported by browsers and is 
accounted for in the encoding detection algorithm.

If you have evidence to show otherwise, please present it on either the 
whatwg mailing list or public-html.

>> You might be equally surpised to learn that the spec will be defining 
>> all widely used and supported presentational features in due course. 
>> However, that doesn't mean their use will be conforming.
> 
> Unfortunately, the fact that it doesn't yet do this, probably means it 
> isn't much use for Lynx, as the developers would probably have to do a 
> major re-write which would involve finding their own solutions to the 
> handling of other constructs.

Their implementation feedback would be extremely useful for improving 
the spec.  If, during the course of their implementation effort, they 
identify some limitations or issues with the spec, providing feedback is 
the best way to get them addressed.

It is absolutely vital that implementers get involved in the development 
of specs early, rather than waiting till the spec is complete.  The 
sooner they do, the sooner issues will get found and fixed.

> Some of this will be necessary, even for 
> hte final specification, as I doubt that you will be providing rules for 
> HTML 3.0 compatibility.

HTML5 will be defining the features for which there is evidence to show 
that they are required for compatibility with a signifiant portion of 
the web.  Many HTML 3.0 features would not meet those requirements, 
especially consideing the spec was abandoned.

-- 
Lachlan Hunt
http://lachy.id.au/

Received on Saturday, 28 April 2007 16:52:21 UTC