Re: Thoughts on CLASS and ROLE attributes in HTML 3 draft

Dave Raggett (dsr@hplb.hpl.hp.com)
Mon, 13 Mar 95 17:49:20 GMT

> In the current HTML 3 draft, every element has a CLASS
> attribute for user-defined semantics and stylesheet hooks.
> A few elements (<NOTE role=footnote>, <HTML role=(toc|doc|...)>
> also have a ROLE attribute with predefined semantics. A few others
> (<DIV class=banner>, <TR class=(header|footer)>) have predefined
> semantics for the *CLASS* attribute.

> I think it would be a good idea to orthogonalize these attributes;
> that is, leave CLASS attribute values entirely in the user's
> namespace, and use ROLE for everything with predefined semantics.

To get the best out of the subclassing idea, we will want to evolve
some common class names. I am merely helping things get off to a
good start with some root classes that should be useful for all
browsers.

-- Dave Raggett <dsr@w3.org> tel: +44 117 922 8046 fax: +44 117 922 8924
Hewlett Packard Laboratories, Filton Road, Bristol BS12 6QZ, United Kingdom