[whatwg] HTML differences from HTML4 document updated

[Jukka K. Korpela]

2013-05-03 21:19, Xaxio Brandish wrote:

> Ah.  The document scope [1] explains why it uses "HTML" in the title as
> opposed to HTML5 or HTML(5).

No, it only says *that* it uses "HTML" to refer to "the W3C HTML5 
specification, W3C HTML5.1 specification, and the WHATWG HTML standard". 
*Why* it does so is not addressed at all, though the reader might infer 
that people just couldn't agree on a name, after WHATWG decided to 
abandon the name "HTML5".

"HTML" has been used through the ages to denote a markup language (and 
associated definitions) in a broad sense, as opposite to specific 
versions. This is still the everyday meaning. And a title of a work 
should be understandable without reading some explanation inside it, 
saying that some common term has an uncommon meaning.

If you can't agree on a proper name, at least call it something like 
"modern HTML". Or, perhaps more realistically, "near-future HTML".

It's not clear to me why the document is needed in the first place. It 
would seem to be much more relevant to document in detail the 
differences between HTML 5, HTML 5.1, and WHATWG Living HTML than to 
write a rather general document about the differences between them (as 
if they were a single and stabile specification) and HTML 4.

Yucca