[whatwg] Make quoted attributes a conformance criterion

[Keryx Web]

On 2009-07-23 15:32, Kornel wrote:
> On 23 Jul 2009, at 13:35, Keryx Web wrote:
>
>> I'd say it is safe to say that using quotation marks for attribute
>> values, always, except perhaps for collapsed, boolean attributes, has
>> been regarded as best practice for a long time now. Speaking as an
>> instructor for newbies, enforcing quotation marks has proven its value
>> countless of times for me and my students.
>
> It's not a clear benefit. Unpaired quotation marks can also be a
> *source* of errors, which wouldn't happen without them:

Having dealt with other peoples code a lot (being a teacher) I'd say 
that problem is exceptionally rare and very easy to spot, put in 
contrast with the ones arising from not using quotation marks. The 
proportion is like 100 to 1.

Ergo: In real life the benefit is very clear.

As for conformance criteria only being about unambiguous parsing: If 
that is the case we do not need them at all any more, since HTML 5 
defines how to handle badly written markup.

Just like validation in HTML 4 in reality is more of a benefit to the 
developer than the browser, since 99% of all errors actually are benign, 
so conformance criteria in HTML 5 is supposed to primarily help web 
developers - and authoring tool developers.

And speaking directly to Ian H, a few years ago you said on this list 
that you'd love for the spec to help teachers as much as possible 
(within the limits of being a spec). My suggested example markup changes 
is definitely such a help.

-- 
Keryx Web (Lars Gunther)
http://keryx.se/
http://twitter.com/itpastorn/
http://itpastorn.blogspot.com/