[whatwg] <cite> versus |cite|

[Matthew Raymond]

   There's been some debate about the |cite| attribute versus the <cite>
element. There problem with the attribute is that it doesn't allow for
non-text content and isn't visible on legacy browsers. The problem with
the element is that there are no means of associating it with quotes or
blockquotes.

   Well, why not overload the |cite| attribute so that it's valid to use
the URL for a <cite> element? Example:

| <p>
|   <q cite="#Hixie">How times have changed</q>, said
|   <cite id="Hixie">
|     <a href="http://ln.hixie.ch/?start=1163122250&count=1">
|       Ian
|     </a>
|   </cite>.
| </p>

   You could then have multiple |cite| attributes point to the same
<cite> element, and the <cite> element doesn't necessarily have to be in
close proximity, markupwise, to the referencing <q> or <blockquote>.