[whatwg] Element level XML and XSL attributes

[Dr. Clue]

Having immensely enjoyed using w3.org standard XML/XSL
transforms in my web projects , I would really like 
the HTML5 spec to consider the addition of two
element level attributes (XML and XSL)

These two attributes would at a minimum take
URLs to the respective .xml and .xsl sources.

Use cases include but are not limited to
tabular data browsing , charts ,info graphics (SVG etc),
news feeds, multi-view data, calenders and
miles and miles of common every day activities.
If one sees integration of data and presentation
in an element of a page, those XML/XSL attributes
could handle the vast majority of it.

This should not be confused with page wide XSL references 
like <link rel="stylesheet" href="mystylesheet.xsl">
as often these days through various means , elements 
arrive in a page dynamically.

Currently element level XML/XSL transforms require vendor specific
object sniffing hacks to achieve those transforms, and 
having XML and XSL attributes while having a main merit all their own
has the added benefit of eliminating the need for those hacks.

These attributes also decrease the complexity of having multiple
contributors collaborating on a page by allowing individual 
elements of presentation involving data and structure to 
be built standalone , and then integrated into any page
presentation.

As an additional option it might be nice if the 
attributing setting would allow the values to be either
the typical URLs or the native Javascript objects
created through the browser's Javascript API, although
this latter aspect would simply be gravy.

Making the w3.org XML/XSL standards more accessible
from HTML has an amazing bounty of benefits 
and would be trivial for vendors to implement, since 
the internal code is in browsers (include gasp IE) going
back a long long ways.

I've been wishing for these attributes to appear for 
years, and the thought occurred to me yet again today
as I embark on yet another project where XML/XSL
will take a primary role in keeping my data separate
from my presentation. 


--Doc