As Joe English has already pointed out, <LINK REL=...> is a suitable
vehicle for this type of information.
>
> 2) If the background bitmap is really simple, like a single color or 4 dots
> 2x2, allow the use of binary or hex bits to designate the color so a separate
> fetch of a really small image isn't needed. I.e. <BACKGND
> pat="0x3e32a55f"> or something.
God forbid!
>
> 3) The big question will be, is this a structural object or an attribute
> better suited for style-sheets? I'd lean towards the former, as I think
> this is similar in function to <HR>. Perhaps it would be more in the
> SGML spirit if instead of a bitstring like I suggested above, more general
> names were given to the possible colors, and it was left up to the
> browser to render that color best.
Surely the background texture of information is not part of the
information's structure. Unless you are using it to layer information
on a structured background to communicate your message -- risky business.
On the other hand, I am not altogether happy leaving it entirely
to (implied) external style-sheets. There are some formatting hints
which should have a place in the HTML instance, and I agree with Eric
that this is a very good candidate. <LINK is an equally good candidate
to convey the hint to browsers.
>
> Brian
>
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> brian@hotwired.com brian@hyperreal.com http://www.hotwired.com/Staff/brian/
>
>