[whatwg] The problems with namespaces in text/html

[Elliotte Harold]

Anne van Kesteren wrote:

> Well, the problem is that they would mean different things. Consider the 
> following fragment:

Meaning is in the eye of the beholder. In point of the fact, there are a 
lot more than two different things the fragment you propose might mean. 
Meaning is determined locally by each recipient for its own unique 
purposes, which may or may not be anything close to what the document 
producer expects.

The idea that the server can somehow impose its interpretation of the 
content on the recipient is an illusion. It's never been true, and it's 
never going to be true, no matter how any specs you write.

The syntax matters. If you give me the right well-formed syntax, I can 
do what I need to do with it, as can others. If you give me malformed 
syntax, working with the document gets a lot more complicated. My 
concern is not from browser vendors on agreeing on one interpretation 
that's somehow useful to them. It's making sure that they don't in the 
process break everything else anyone else might want to do with these 
documents.

Where's Walter Perry when you need him? :-)

-- 
Elliotte Rusty Harold  elharo at metalab.unc.edu
Java I/O 2nd Edition Just Published!
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