[whatwg] [web-apps] 2.7.8 The i element

[fantasai]

Lachlan Hunt wrote:
>   My favourite book is <a href="urn:isbn:0-735-71245-X">Eric Meyer on
>   CSS</a>.

There are two major problems (as I see it) with using ISBN for citations.

   1. You are limiting yourself to referencing a single edition of the work,
      which may not be appropriate. Shakespeare's plays, for example, are
      available in many, many different publications. If I want to look up
      the context for your quote from Romeo and Juliet, in most cases there's
      no need for me to find the exact same edition that you were using. You
      can helpfully give me a link to an online version of the text, but
      that would be extra info.
   2. You cannot cite anything that has not been assigned an ISBN. There are
      a lot of publications that don't have standardized IDs. Company memos,
      ancient manuscripts, my 9th grade paper on medieval castles, a cereal
      box, the bathroom wall, etc.

~fantasai