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RE: XHTML survival rate?

• To: "'David G. Durand'" <david@d...>, xml-dev@l...
• Subject: RE: XHTML survival rate?
• From: "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@i...>
• Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 13:31:02 -0500

Hi David:

So Godot is still out there somewhere?

I realize that was the argument, but it doesn't 
seem to have had much impact "so far".  HTML set 
practices loose that engendered habits unlikely 
to change.  That was the price of the splash. 
It's a bit like starting out life as a hooker; 
you get lots of partners but little consistent 
companionship and age reduces opportunity for 
either or both.  

The Draconian parse makes for good marriages 
among self-restrained if loose couplings.

len

-----Original Message-----
From: David G. Durand [mailto:david@d...]
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2002 1:22 PM
To: xml-dev@l...
Subject: RE:  XHTML survival rate?


At 8:23 AM -0500 4/11/02, Bullard, Claude L (Len) wrote:
>Rick has it right.  When the decision to
>make a Draconian Parse the centerpiece of XML
>to support a well-formed core, one remark made
>by the a supporter was that this would ensure the
>clean up of malformed HTML.  A counter argument was
>that that approach sounded good but that practical
>programmers would still handle the errors and
>go on because that is what customers would want.
>In hindsight, the counter argument has so far
>been right with regards to HTML.

A significant reason for draconian error handling was the direct 
request of vendors of some notable HTML processors, who admitted the 
problems in HTML practice encouraged by their software, and asked for 
draconian error handling on that account. It was a "please stop me 
before I kill again" kind of argument....

Everyone in the group recognized that standards are a weak constraint 
on behavior, and that the solution might be partial, or take years to 
affect practice significantly.

   -- David
-- 
-------------------------------
David Durand                    |  12 Bassett St.
david.durand@i...        |  Providence RI, 02903-4628 USA
VP, Software Architecture       |  401-331-2014 x111 Cell: 401-935-5317
ingenta plc                     |  FAX: 401-331-2015
http://www.ingenta.com/

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