sXBL: Root terminology

Dear Scalable Vector Graphics Working Group,

  Section 1.2 of the latest sXBL Working Draft states

[...]
  An XBL subtree is a subtree in an SVG document fragment, the subtree
  having as its root node an xbl element in the XBL namespace, which is
  used to define bindings.
[...]

and section 2.1 states

[...]
  The xbl element is the root element of all XBL subtrees.
[...]

and section 4.1 states

[...]
  The bound element's xblShadowTree attribute is set to point to the
  root template element of this tree of clones.
[...]

All these occurrences of the term "root" should be replaced by something
else. Getting XML terminology right is difficult for many authors yet it
is essential to talk about its concepts. And re-using (abusing) well-
established terms is confusing. There is only one root node in an XML
document which is not an element node, the root node of any XBL subtree
is the document node of the SVG document. You would not write "the head
element is the root element of all document meta data" in an XHTML Rec
either, the root element for XHTML documents is the html element, and so
is the svg element the root element of any XBL subtree. Root would imply
that you cannot go any further than the root but you can. While it might
make some sense to use "root" here, the word should be reserved for root
node and root element as defined in DOM Level 3 Core and and the XML 1.0
Third Edition Recommendation respectively. I can live with root as used
in section 6.1.1.

regards.

Received on Saturday, 11 September 2004 03:32:49 UTC