[whatwg] The m element

[Lachlan Hunt]

Anne van Kesteren wrote:
> I think I agree that <m> should be dropped. I believe such an element 
> has never been requested before on www-html or equivalent fora.

No, the use cases for <m> are clear, and it is different from both <em> 
and <strong>.  I think it should be kept as-is, though its definition in 
the spec clearly needs to be improved.

David Latapie wrote:
>> "highlight" just means "draw attention to",
> 
> How does it differ from "important"?

<m> marks a point of interest for future reference, it does not denote 
importance.  Everyone seems to be focussing on the definition of 
highlight meaning emphasis as their argument that it is the same as <em> 
and/or <strong>.  However, it's the definition of mark [1], in 
particular "to identify an item for future reference", that is most 
relevant, and neither <em> nor <strong> fulfil that purpose.

Highlighting, emphasising, underlining, or whatever, is simply the 
mechanism used to identify the item, not the semantic purpose of the 
element itself.

[1] http://www.answers.com/mark#Technology

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