Re: Highlighting issue of XML support in DOM 4

On 1/22/2013 9:49 AM, Henry S. Thompson wrote:
> Unlike quote style or intra-tag whitespace, the xml declaration_is_
> is part of the information content of an XML document: the XML Infoset
> spec. [1] defines relevant properties for the Document infoitem.  The
> XML DOM should implement the Infoset spec.

Exactly.

I do think we're at risk of going in circles here, and that's unproductive. 
My impression is that the DOM serves at least two masters: those who have 
as their fundamental model XML and the Infoset, and those who have as their 
fundamental model HTML5. As Henry says, the XML declaration is 
unambiguously part of the XML infoset while, e.g., the choice between 
single and double quotes on attributes is not. As Henri says, the existence 
of an XML declaration is not part of the HTML model, and is from its 
perspective a serialization artifact.

If all that's correct, then I think the DOM needs to serve the union of the 
two needs, and the declaration information information should be retained. 
It should be no surprise that it's exactly those who want a polyglot 
capability who are asking to use that attribute with content that is 
abstractly HTML.

I'd add it back.

Noah

Received on Tuesday, 22 January 2013 14:56:43 UTC