[whatwg] several messages about XML syntax and HTML5

[Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis]

Aankhen wrote:
> "I was gonna go to this site I found on Google, but then I saw that it
> was corrupted, so I figured it musta been a security issue or
> something."

The original problem I was contesting and attempting to solve was that
users would think, incorrectly, that such messages indicated a problem
with Google. You seem to think users would think, correctly, that there
is a problem with the linked page. That's what they should think,
because that's what the message means.

> As for "text/html", it's just another string of technical jargon added
> by those crazy Google guys.  Wonder what it means?

Yeah, so do browsers. :)

In any case, it is the job of good design to explain requisite jargon. I
suggest "text/html" because such pages are not HTML, and there's no
point in mislabelling them. If you have a better term, I'm all ears.

> Perhaps you feel I'm exaggerating; in that case, go and ask any
> non–computer savvy friends or relatives what it means if the HTML on a
> page is corrupted.

Go ask them what it means if a Word document or hard disk is
"corrupted". It's the right word for the case; end-users don't need to
have a deep understanding of how web pages or Word documents or file
systems are part together.

--
Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis