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Re: Note from the Troll

• To: xml-dev@l...
• Subject: Re: Note from the Troll
• From: Kian-Tat Lim <ktl@k...>
• Date: Sun, 27 Oct 2002 13:41:25 -0800
• In-reply-to: <1035735331.18218.74.camel@marajen>

tblanchard@m... wrote:
>> the assertion that XML fails as [...] a markup language
>> (markup shouldn't require well-formedness)

which Amy Lewis took exception to:

> *ABSOLUTELY* disagreed.
>
> Well-formedness is the thing that makes XML worthwhile.

and then went on to criticize markup minimization.

In the realm of document markup, I think that the part
of well-formedness that requires strict element inclusion
and therefore a strict hierarchy *is* limiting; we
have recently seen discussion here on overlapping trees
within a single document.  While omitted tags and
other SGML minimization features are likely not worth
the cost, being able to apply markup metadata to
arbitrary ranges without having to use out-of-line
methods might help avoid extremes like the reported
every-word-is-an-element MS "WordML".  (What do they
do when only *part* of a word is bold/underline/whatever?)

-- 
Kian-Tat Lim, ktl@k..., UTF-7: +Z5de+pBU-

• References:
  • Re: Note from the Troll
    • From: Amelia A Lewis <amyzing@t...>

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