Re: [CSS21] Make XHTML <body> magic just like HTML <body>

On Monday 16 April 2007 20:23, Simon Pieters wrote:
> On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 18:51:28 +0200, Bert Bos <bert@w3.org> wrote:
> > The CSS WG decided _not_ to change the spec in response to Simon
> > Pieters's request[1] to make BODY as special in XHTML as in HTML.
>
> Ok.
>
> > (The
> > exceptions for HTML are there for historical reasons, they affect
> > other elements than BODY, too and we like them to _stay_
> > exceptions.
>
> Indeed. I want them to stay exceptions too (just also apply to
> XHTML).
>
> > Our
> > impression is that the [XHTML2] WG also doesn't want them to apply
> > to XHTML.
>
> Indeed.
>
> > Also consider that other XML-based formats aren't special
> > either, even if if they have a BODY element.)
>
> I don't see why this is relevant. From an implementors point of view,
> CSS operates on the DOM, not on the serialization. HTML and XML can
> produce pretty much equivalent DOM trees, and while some differences
> are required (e.g. case sensitivity on type selectors), others can be
> avoided. Why *should* XHTML be different from HTML where they *could*
> be the same?
>
> > [1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2007Mar/0035.html
> >
> > (For reference, this is issue 31 in the forthcoming "Disposition of
> > Comments.")
> >
> > Simon, please let us know if you can't agree with this resolution.
>
> I can't agree with this resolution.

The WG still thinks the exception for HTML should not be carried over to 
other formats, but we've added some text to the status section of the 
document, under the heading "at risk":

    * BODY element in XHTML

    The effect of 'overflow' and 'background' is different on BODY
    elements in HTML than on other elements. It may be that the
    exceptional handling of BODY in HTML is extended to BODY in XHTML1.

This means that we reserve the possibility of making BODY in XHTML1 an 
exception, just like BODY in HTML, if we consider that the state of 
implementations makes it necessary. We'll make that decision no sooner 
than six months after publication of the document as a Candidate 
Recommendation.

Is that a reasonable compromise?



Bert
-- 
  Bert Bos                                ( W 3 C ) http://www.w3.org/
  http://www.w3.org/people/bos                               W3C/ERCIM
  bert@w3.org                             2004 Rt des Lucioles / BP 93
  +33 (0)4 92 38 76 92            06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France

Received on Thursday, 26 April 2007 19:34:39 UTC