<IMG> inside <FIG>?

Benjamin C. W. Sittler (bsittler@prism.nmt.edu)
Thu, 13 Jul 1995 15:02:59 -0600

>From reading the draft proposal for HTML 3, I get the impression that one
could do something like the following:

<FIG SRC="MyPicture.GIF">
<P>
You can look at <a href="MyPicture.GIF">my picture</a>, too. In
fact, those with inline images enabled can see it right here:
<IMG SRC="MyPicture.GIF">
</FIG>

Now, how should this be rendered by a FIG-capable browser? Obviously,
non-FIG browsers can just ignore the <FIG ...> and </FIG> tags, but what
about those than do understand it? Should it be rendered like this:

_________________
| |
| MyPicture.GIF |
| |
|_________________|

or like this:

_________________

| MyPicture.GIF |
| |
|_________________|

You can look at *my picture*, too. In fact, those with inline images
________________
enabled can see it right here:| |
| MyPicture.GIF |
|________________|

That is, should the browser display text between <FIG> and </FIG> if it
also displays the FIG image? If so, FIG is barely more useful than
<IMG>... if not, on the other hand, it is an extremely valuable addition
to HTML, as it would allow complex overlays to be rendered as a series of
<IMG>s in existing (non-FIG) browsers, or as a single image in more modern
browsers, giving everyone the necessary information and taking advantage
of more advanced techniques where available.

Another case, that of navigation bars, is demonstrated in my homepage [1].
Is this valid usage of FIG?

[1] http://www.nmt.edu/~bsittler/homepage.html

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 Name: Benjamin C. W. Sittler -- Email: bsittler@nmt.edu -- Snail: P.O. Box 153
 Web: http://nmt.edu/~bsittler/         bcws@arc.unm.edu           Socorro, NM
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