Re: SGML Open recommendations on HTML 3

David - Morris (dwm@shell.portal.com)
Wed, 22 Mar 95 03:08:39 EST

There have been a number of points made re. use of em-s vs relative vs
fixed measures (nb. exactly how does a browser know how to render
something at 10mm wide ... prompt the user to measure a 100 pixel line?)
but a second point I've been intending to make went by possibly unnoticed:
Eliminate the units= attribute and code units as the suffix within
colspec. I agree. I used IBM's bookmaster et al for years and found
it quite natural to specify units on the measurement (which is how
units are often conveyed in other areas of human endeavor).

While on the colspec= issue ... I would recommend elimination of the
upper case requirement on the alignment prefix characters. The fact that
some fonts for computer usage are so poorly designed that it is difficult
or impossible to differentiate 1/L and 0/o seems poor justification
for making entry of the values more cumbersome. Leaving the values case
insensitive will be less confusing and would also be the no suprises
expected behavior. Users with difficulty distinguishing 1/L can use
upper case and it will work. In the mean time the rendering rule
re. ignoring what isn't understood won't cause difficulty for the rest
of us.

David Morris