Re: Simple template-based editing

Orion Adrian wrote:
> Not quite, at least in my mind. UL and OL have slightly different
> semantics even though they're built on the same basis (a hierchical
> list).

   Actually, that's a weak argument, since the difference is largely
presentational. Unordered lists have an order, since the list items
exist in order in the markup.

> A select is a non-hierchical list (or partially hierchical with
> optgroup).

   Not true for the Web Forms 2.0 version of <optgroup>. That allows a
fully hierarchical option list.

> Also the items do lack a value attribute, though that's a
> technilogical issue and not a semantic one; value is used as
> identification because it's often easier to work with.

   I disagree. What you want to present the user and what you send to
the server are two different things. If the user is selecting the color
red, you may want to send "#FF0000" or "rgb(255,0,0)". If the user
selects a book, you might want to send the ISBN number. It's not so much
that you're sending an easier identification so much as you're sending
back information that's relevant to the server rather than the user.

> Though if you really want to look at things, everything is a list as
> everything can be looked at as 0 to many items with most falling into
> that exactly 1 status. Then again, that doesn't do us much good does
> it?

   Yeah, if there's more than one, or even one, anything can be a list
under the right definition. The <form> element can be considered a list
element for form controls. It even has a DOM collection for accessing
its child controls. That doesn't make it a semantic list in HTML,
though, any more than a <div> containing <p> elements is a list of
paragraphs.

Received on Monday, 3 October 2005 18:12:43 UTC