Re: HTML and XML

Ian Hickson wrote:
> On Wed, 11 Feb 2009, Elliotte Harold wrote:
>> I'm not so sure. I'm not aware of any current specs that attempt to 
>> prescribe the handling of a byte stream received over HTTP
> 
> Off the top of my head: CSS, PNG, text/plain, XML.
> 
> Unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean, all of those basically have the 
> same kinds of requirements as HTML5, specifically how to determine the 
> encoding, how to obtain meaning from bytes using that encoding, etc.
> 

"Handling" I suppose is a vague term, but XML and text/plain describe 
neither rendering, semantics, nor behavior. They say absolutely nothing 
about what a processor should or must do with any given byte stream or 
what meaning it infers to those bytes. They describe syntax, nothing more.

CSS and PNG describe rendering--that's their whole purpose--but not 
behavior.

HTML 5 attempts to prescribe almost everything. It is far more demanding 
and less flexible than previous specs.

-- 
Elliotte Rusty Harold  elharo@metalab.unc.edu
Refactoring HTML Just Published!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0321503635/ref=nosim/cafeaulaitA

Received on Friday, 13 February 2009 10:49:07 UTC