Re: PIs and deployment

Craig Hubley (craig@passport.ca)
Tue, 23 May 95 10:18:04 EDT

> Dave Morris mentions
> >>debates about how
> to gracefully deploy new features.
>
> I'd like to encourage HTML UA developers to support processing
> instructions (PIs) as a way to test at least some new features.

I agree. It's far better than having them invent new tags which
are really just glorified PIs anyway. This confuses the purpose
of tags vs. PIs.

> A PI has the syntax <?stuff not including right angle bracket>;

Is a PI legal as an attribute value anywhere ? Where there is
already a 'standard' list of attribute values ?

> SGMLlers generally hate PIs (usually for good reason), but
> especially for browser-specific mods and functions they're
> entirely appropriate

Absolutely agreed.

>and require no change to the HTML spec.

True, but it's always a question of getting it implemented in such
a diverse community of developers... *sigh*. One reason that it
might be difficult is that these developers are all trying to "set
a standard" and it is not in their interest to acknowledge mods as
"application-specific".

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