Re: [whatwg] The problems with namespaces in text/html

Ian Hickson wrote:
> Focussing on the issue at hand, I would recommend those taking part in the 
> part of this discussion that relates to Math markup to suggest 
> constructive solutions for how to move forward in a text/html world, 
> preferably with proof-of-concepts or experimental implementations.

A reasonable suggestion.

Proposal: Include MathML as xml "islands" with XML rules for namespaces,
but within sgml-ish html.

Based on my current understanding:
This works in IE _today_ (provided MathPlayer is installed).
Roger seemed to say that it is just as easy to implement
in mozilla as w/o namespaces, and had perhaps already implemented it.

Omitting namespaces won't work in current IE, even with MathPlayer,
and so will require changes to IE.  Is the IE group participating
in the WhatWG discussions? Is there any expectation they will
follow suite if a non-namespaced approach is adopted?

 It is 
> clear that not everyone will be pleased with whatever solution we end up 
> using, since the requirements put forward by the various contributors so 
> far are at best quite different and at worst contradictory.

Yep, standards are always a compromise.
Personally, I consider being able to use tools to work with
the content, and having more than 10% market penetration to carry
slightly more weight than namespace revulsion.
[Is polite teasing still allowed? :> ]

 However, if we 
> have actual implementations to play with, we can at least try to base our 
> decisions on experience rather than guesses and opinions.
> 
> Cheers,


-- 
bruce.miller@nist.gov
http://math.nist.gov/~BMiller/

Received on Tuesday, 7 November 2006 04:25:49 UTC