[ZPT] Why does this cause a page template to be invalid?(longish)

[Fred L. Drake, Jr.]

R. David Murray wrote:
 > Well, as far as I am concerned, this means that the browsers are
 > correct and the spec is wrong.

Unfortunately, either way you lean, when it comes to HTML, we all
lose.  ;-(

 > In terms of logical *markup*, I want my paragraphs (elements of
 > discourse, not formatting) to be able to contain various kinds of
 > block elements, including tables but most especially lists.  Anything
 > else is a perversion of what document *markup* is supposed to
 > accomplish (laying out the logical structure of the document).

I agree.

 > Of course, that confusion between presentation markup and logical
 > markup is what I dislike about HTML in the first place...

Yes.  HTML is simply not usable as a long-term document maintenance
format since it doesn't allow the structural flexibility that is
eventually needed by documents that evolve over time.  HTML is a
somewhat-flexible document presentation format, not a general
structural markup language.

 > Still, in this case I'd rather the parser break with the de-jure
 > standard and follow the de-facto standard, since the latter is much
 > more sensible and practical.  Microsoft aside, there are IMO
 > sometimes good reasons why you see block tags inside paragraphs in
 > document markup.

By sticking with the stricter interpretation, Page Templates ensures
you won't be surprised after the fact.  Our determination was based on
the idea that it's better/easier to surprise/educate the developer
than to have site users get something the developer didn't expect them
to get.

 > I realize I may be in the minority there.

I won't hold it against you; usually it's me in the minority.  ;)


  -Fred

-- 
Fred L. Drake, Jr.  <fdrake at acm.org>
PythonLabs at Zope Corporation