Maciej wrote:
So, in conclusion, having a baseline for correct syntax may actually make it easier to develop an ecosystem of style-checking tools. However, this makes it important to keep the core set of syntax errors relatively minimal. I'm not sure HTML5 as currently drafted entirely hits that balance, but mandating optional tags or requiring double quotes on attributes would be a move in the wrong direction.
I concur. And I say that as someone who likes the XHTML-like syntax (always closing tags, always quoting attributes, etc.). I don't think my personal preference for writing markup should be enforced in the spec; it should be enforced in the lint tools.
The comparison with JavaScript is a good one, I think:
JavaScript, C and C++ are examples of languages where conforming syntax is strictly defined, yet tools are available that do additional static analysis for both style and correctness.
Jeremy -- Jeremy Keith a d a c t i o http://adactio.com/
