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

[Lachlan Hunt]

Ian Hickson wrote:
> OpenSP is already non-conformant to HTML5. See:
> 
>     http://whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/#conformance

Actually I believe OpenSP is just the parser, and the validator is the 
conformance checker which uses OpenSP.  Thus, OpenSP is not 
non-conformant according to that, but the validator is.  However, I 
disagree with that statement anyway.  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.

If OpenSP was non-conformant, then any current or future UA that is 
built with OpenSP as the parser would be non-conformant also, which 
should not be the case.  Since HTML is, and IMHO should remain, an 
application of SGML, the use of a conformant SGML parser should not make 
the user agent non-conformant.

> In any case, assuming I'm still the editor when the parsing section gets 
> written,

Why wouldn't you be?

> HTML5 will most likely stop the pretense of HTML being an SGML  application.

What the?  I disagree with that.  HTML should remain an application of 
SGML, and browser's should be built to conform properly.  Aside from the 
unimplemented SHORTTAG features (which can be turned off in the DTD 
anyway) and the mostly undefined error handling, what about HTML 5 will 
be so incompatible with SGML to warrant such a decision?

>>Also, while on the topic of handling invalid documents, is this spec 
>>going to attempt to address the <x><y></x></y> problem?
> 
> Probably not, as there is no generally accepted solution. In fact there is 
> no known solution (to my knowledge) that is entirely satisfactory.

Agreed, since no existing browser I know of handles it in the most 
logical and, IMHO, the most correct way (ie. when a parent element is 
closed, all unclosed children elements should be closed and not reopened 
after); and no two browsers that I know of create completely compatible 
DOMs with any other method.

-- 
Lachlan Hunt
http://lachy.id.au/
http://GetFirefox.com/     Rediscover the Web
http://GetThunderbird.com/ Reclaim your Inbox