Ben Adida wrote:
We're not dealing with an existing technology that is going to be made
somehow incompatible because of CURIE support. None of the existing HTML
tools will have to change (they already ignore attributes they don't
know, given that, e.g., a number of JavaScript libraries use their own
attributes). None of the HTML parsers will have to change. None of the
other specifications will have to change one iota.
The changes we're proposing are entirely self-contained.
Sadly, they aren't, though not in the way you mean.
The specific problem I refer to is that the string foo:localName has no
defined namespace absent an outer context. Leaving aside all the other
problems with namespaces (and they are legion) that was a mistake. And
CURIEs most definitely appear to be repeating that mistake.
Unlike namespaces, though, CURIEs are unlikely to convince maintainers
of DOM/SAX/JDOM/XPath/XQuery/etc. to add special support for their
indirection. This is going to make them even harder for developers to
use. :-(
--
Elliotte Rusty Harold
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
