[whatwg] [html5] tags, elements and generated DOM

[Lachlan Hunt]

Olav Junker Kjær wrote:
> Lachlan Hunt wrote:
> 
>> Validators should not be non-conformant simply because they only do 
>> their job to validate a document and nothing else.  I don't see any 
>> reason why such a statement needs to be included at all.
> 
> I like the requirement!
> The intention is (I assume) to prevent validators to claim "this 
> document is valid HTML5" while the document might very well be invalid 
> according to the spec.

No, you are using the term "invalid" incorrectly in this case.  Validity 
has a fairly strict definition as it applies to SGML document 
validation, meaning something like "valid according to the formal 
definition expressed in the DTD".  However, you are correct in that 
"valid" HTML 5 document may be *non-coformant* (not invalid) according 
to HTML5, as is the case for all other versions of (X)HTML.

> The problem is that validators use the term "valid" in a very limited 
> sense, but web authors without a through understanding of DTD-validation 
> would naturally assume that "valid" would mean "valid according to the 
> spec".

Lack of understanding by document authors about the terminology used is 
no reason to make a validator non-conformant.  A validator is not lying 
by saying that a document is "valid", even if it's non-conformant.  It 
is simply doing its job correctly, and the spec should allow it to do so 
without being non-coformant itself.

-- 
Lachlan Hunt
http://lachy.id.au/
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