[whatwg] several messages about HTML5

[Henri Sivonen]

On Feb 21, 2007, at 07:14, Sander Tekelenburg wrote:

> That's not a flaw in HTML, because it is essential to HTML that it  
> separates content from presentation.

I think device independence and accessibility are worthwhile goals.  
Semantic markup and separation of content and style are not essential  
in themselves but just a means of pursuing the other goals.

> My feeling is that many people can understand and work with that  
> slightly abstract concept, but they need tools that make it easy.

People also need to believe that they benefit from thinking on a more  
abstract level.

> If we can offer people 'semantic editors' that work in a 'natural'  
> way, they won't have to fight.

Well, to the extent most people keep semantics implicit and only  
think about presentation explicitly, reconciling "natural" with  
asking them to think differently is a problem.

> But I think before that education stands a chance of making a dent,  
> there'll need to be good non-WYSIWYG authoring tools.

I agree. Do you have a plan on how you are going to convince  
developers to take the risk of incurring the cost of developing a new  
kind of tool which may not succeed with users?

Anyway, HTML5 needs to be realistic considering the immediate  
evolvability of existing tools.

P.S. This should not be considered a pro-<font> message. I think the  
<font> element should be dropped and the style='' attribute should be  
allowed on all elements.

-- 
Henri Sivonen
hsivonen at iki.fi
http://hsivonen.iki.fi/