[whatwg] Add 'type' attribute to <mark>

[Eduard Pascual]

On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 7:29 PM, Ian Hickson <ian at hixie.ch> wrote:
> On Fri, 31 Oct 2008, Pentasis wrote:
[...]
>> As the <mark> element has different usages defined on it already why not
>> include a "type" attribute (or similar) that defines what it is used
>> for. One of these types would then be "footnote", others could be
>> (relating to what is already in the spec) "term", "highlight" etc. (I am
>> sure others would be much better at thinking up names than I am).
>
> That's what the "class" attribute is for.

What's the difference then between <mark> and <span> then? I mean,
does the <mark> element provide anything that <span> with an
appropriate class wouldn't?