ISSUE-4

html-versioning

HTML Versioning and DOCTYPEs

State:

RAISED

Product:

HTML Principles/Requirements

Raised by:

Dan Connolly

Opened on:

2007-11-06

Description:

Should the new HTML language bear a version mechanism?

HTML5 Specification - Section 8.1.1. "The DOCTYPE"
http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/section-writing0.html#the-doctype

## Research
 
* Karl Dubost's "HTML and version mechanisms" - http://www.w3.org/QA/2007/05/html_and_version_mechanisms.html
* Test case "<!DOCTYPE" - http://hsivonen.iki.fi/doctype/test-quirks.php?doctype=%3C%21DOCTYPE
* Mozilla reference on their DOCTYPE implementation - http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Mozilla's_DOCTYPE_sniffing

## Proposals

* IE 8 Versioning Scheme
   * "IE8 versioning snowstorm" - http://www.w3.org/QA/2008/01/ie8_versioning_snowstorm.html

## Links

### Emails

* L. David Baron "Version information" - http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2007Apr/0279.html
* Chris Wilson (wearing his Microsoft hat) - http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2007Apr/0612.html
   * Henri Sivonen Re: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2007Apr/0617.html
* Maciej Stachowiak "If we have versioning, it should be in an attribute, not the doctype" - http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2007Apr/1053.html (This should be summarized into a proposal it looks like)
* Dave Hyatt's summary of versioning issues: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2007Apr/1408.html
* Ian Hickson via IRC considers this issue resolved from the Editor's POV - http://krijnhoetmer.nl/irc-logs/html-wg/20071106#l-365
   * Ian's email "Versioning re-visited" - http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2007Jun/0555.html

### Discussions

* W3C TPAC Meeting, Cambridge Nov. 9th 2007, Versioning break-out group - http://www.w3.org/2007/11/09-html-wg-irc#T18-37-49

### Other resources

* Lachlan Hunt summarize parts of the versioning discussion - http://lachy.id.au/log/2007/05/htmlwg
* Roger Johansson grazes the issue with a more general blog post on HTML 5 but then there's some valid discussion in the comments - http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200705/browsers_will_treat_all_versions_of_html_as_html_5/ 
* Anne van Kesteren "DOCTYPE of HTML5" - http://annevankesteren.nl/2005/07/html5-doctype
* Sean Fraser "What Makes the Application of HTML 5 Different?" - http://blog.whatwg.org/what-makes-the-application-of-html-5-different

Related Actions Items:

No related actions

Related emails:

1. Re: Versioning and html[5] (ISSUE-4) (from connolly@w3.org on 2008-01-23)
2. Re: ISSUE-4 (html-versioning): HTML Versioning and DOCTYPEs [HTML Principles/Requirements] (from karl@w3.org on 2007-11-06)
3. RE: ISSUE-4 (html-versioning): HTML Versioning and DOCTYPEs [HTML Principles/Requirements] (from Marcin.Hanclik@access-company.com on 2007-11-06)
4. Re: ISSUE-4 (html-versioning): HTML Versioning and DOCTYPEs [HTML Principles/Requirements] (from connolly@w3.org on 2007-11-06)
5. Re: ISSUE-4 (html-versioning): HTML Versioning and DOCTYPEs [HTML Principles/Requirements] (from karl@w3.org on 2007-11-06)
6. RE: ISSUE-4 (html-versioning): HTML Versioning and DOCTYPEs [HTML Principles/Requirements] (from Marcin.Hanclik@access-company.com on 2007-11-06)
7. Re: ISSUE-4 (html-versioning): HTML Versioning and DOCTYPEs [HTML Principles/Requirements] (from connolly@w3.org on 2007-11-06)
8. ISSUE-4 (html-versioning): HTML Versioning and DOCTYPEs [HTML Principles/Requirements] (from sysbot+tracker@w3.org on 2007-11-06)

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