Thanks for the clarification. I said earlier you seemed to be worrying
about having to move the cursor; glad to see that is not your concern.
> I do care about the author's mental model. Information,
> including styling information, that is specifically local to an element
> should be with that element.
OK, I understand your position here.
> It makes a great deal of sense, to me,
> to say in the stylesheet "H1 elements should be in 14-point Helvetica";
> it makes no sense, to me, to say in the stylsheet "paragraph 14 should
> be in strike-through mode".
As you say, the mental model counts. Why is para 14 in strike through mode?
Perhaps because it is text from an earlier draft that must be present, but
shown as ready for removal or replacement?
In which case, my mental model would be to write <p class="deleted"> and
keep right on typing. I would then go back and add to the stylesheet
to describe how I want to render deleted text.
Note that the in-line, ad-hoc style usage you seem so keen to promote
denies the ability for either the author or the reader to apply a
different style. Using your method, people using a speech synth or a
braille device or a device that can't do strike-through has no option
but to miss the distinction between para 14 and the rest. You have removed
the ability of print-disabled users to configure their browser and
extract the most meaning from your document.
Someone who personally hates strike-through but their device supports it
has no option but to live with it. Their style sheet cannot over-ride
yours. You have removed freedom of choice from the reader by not naming
the distinctiveness of your para 14
That is what "the separation of form and content" is about. It's not
some religious principle that is nodded to for no good reason. It is
a design goal that has real, practical benefits; benefits that you seem
desparate to throw away.
-- Chris Lilley, Technical Author and JISC representative to W3C +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Manchester and North Training & Education Centre ( MAN T&EC ) | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Computer Graphics Unit, Email: Chris.Lilley@mcc.ac.uk | | Manchester Computing Centre, Voice: +44 161 275 6045 | | Oxford Road, Manchester, UK. Fax: +44 161 275 6040 | | M13 9PL BioMOO: ChrisL | | Timezone: UTC URI: http://info.mcc.ac.uk/CGU/staff/lilley/ | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+