Re: XLink 1.1: Xlink vs "legacy" linking

/ Bjoern Hoehrmann <derhoermi@gmx.net> was heard to say:
| * Norman Walsh wrote:
|>/ Bjoern Hoehrmann <derhoermi@gmx.net> was heard to say:
|>| Describing a new format's integration into existing infrastructure is
|>| about the most basic and obvious requirement for W3C Technical Reports.
|>| I want to make a user agent that is both a conforming XHTML user agent
|>| and a conforming XLink application. That's either a stupid idea in which
|>| case this needs to be pointed out in XLink or it's reasonable in which
|>| case conformance to the specifications must not be mutually exclusive.
|>
|>I see your point, but I agree with Daniel. The XLink Recommendation
|>can describe how an XLink processor must behave if processing an XLink
|>element.
|
| Yes, that's exactly what I am asking for, how must XLink implementations
| behave for a construct like <xlink:a href="x" xlink:href="y" ...>. The
| current draft does not say this is implementation-defined or subject to
| other specifications or that this is a link to both resources or that
| the xlink:href attribute takes precedence or whatever. 

There are no elements in the XLink namespace. Your question, if I understand
it, is what should this mean:

  <html:a href="x" xlink:href="y" ...>

From the point of view of an XLink processor, neither the name of the
element nor the presence, absence, or value of the href attribute has
any significance.

How could the spec be made more clear on this point?

|>The XLink specification cannot proscribe HTML behavior on an
|>XHTML "a" element and reasonably expect to get public support.
|
| I don't see how it does not do that at the moment.

The XHTML specification does not claim to use XLink. If you use XLink
attributes on an XHTML element, the semantics of those attributes are
clearly defined from an XLink perspective. That doesn't (nor could it)
say what the semantics of the HTML element are when viewed as an HTML
element.

                                        Be seeing you,
                                          norm

-- 
Norman.Walsh@Sun.COM / XML Standards Architect / Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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