[SVGMobile12] processing of errors

Currently viewers are required to stop processing at the point where a  
document is, or goes into, error, by  
http://www.w3.org/TR/SVGMobile12/implnote.html#ErrorProcessing - although  
I like the fact that the specification requires a highly visible  
notification of error and hope that is not removed.

I would like to request that the spec to be altered to suggest that User  
Agents MAY, after providing such a highlight the error, offer to attempt  
repair and rendering the document.

Under the current specification there seem to be two possible sccenarios.  
The first is that all implementations follow the specification and the  
pressure on designers to code SVG correctly is irresistable, in which case  
the question becomes moot.

In the second case, where there is some real proportion of incorrect  
content, the first viewer that renders incorrect content places a great  
deal of pressure on others to follow suit, or provide an unsatisfying user  
experience and ths lose users.

The fact that it is explained to the user why they are not being shown  
what they expect is an important thing. However in many simple cases, a  
small error in a relatively unimportant document will mean the user  
suffers "unnecessarily". With a visible warning the user will be told the  
designer was at fault. This proposed addition is intended to reduce the  
likelihood that the user blames the browser, and thus reduces the pressure  
on manufacturers to try and circumvent the specification, increase the  
likelihood of the designer coding correctly to avoid having a browser  
point out that they of all designers are incompetent, and reduces the  
suffering of the user. The intended result is that designers take more  
responsibility for ensuring their content is conformant, rather than  
waiting for suffering users to report errors or for manufacturers to  
ignore the spec in favour of their users.

Cheers

Chaals

-- 
Charles McCathieNevile                              chaals@opera.com
          hablo español - je parle français - jeg lærer norsk
   Here's one we prepared earlier:   http://www.opera.com/download

Received on Saturday, 21 May 2005 05:32:08 UTC