Re: Presentation of empty elements (was: Clarification requested; Three changes/additions to XHTML 2)

Hi Steven (and others)

> Don't get me wrong: it is defined in XHTML, but by indirection. CSS
> defines what happens, and we reference CSS normatively. It would just
> be wrong of us to include the text in XHTML, because (as we have
> discovered in the past) if CSS changes, then there is a clash, and we
> have to change our text too.

Thanks. Makes sense.

>> Actually, my experimentation with Opera and Firefox shows that under
>> certain circumstances (e.g., list items, table cells) they treat
>> empty content differently. IE6 also differs, but then that's to be
>> expected. <smile/>
>
> In any case, this is a CSS issue, and you should be talking to the
> CSS group, not us. I have forwarded the comment to Bert Bos, who has
> said he will add it to their issues list.

Again, thanks. Handling of empty content (and white-space only
content) of non-empty elements seems like such a small, even trivial
issue (and in the cosmic scheme of things it is I suppose), but
nevertheless it is one of several smaller issues which, if not all
properly hammered down, add up to something more substantial.

In OEBPS we are cognizant of the need for "predictability" in
presentation across a wide range of platforms and devices, since
content providers (such as book publishers) consider this very
important -- it feeds back into their production processes. We do not
wish to be out-of-step in any way with W3C specifications.

Jon Noring

Received on Wednesday, 16 February 2005 15:37:02 UTC