21017 2013-02-15 19:56:32 +0000 [Templates]: handle white space inside templates in a way that allows templates to be more human readable 2013-02-21 22:58:43 +0000 1 1 1 Unclassified WebAppsWG HISTORICAL - Component Model unspecified PC Linux RESOLVED WONTFIX P2 normal --- 15476 1 jacobr rafaelw jmesserly public-webapps-bugzilla oldest_to_newest 83208 0 jacobr 2013-02-15 19:56:32 +0000 Most existing html template systems such as Mustache and Closure Templates strip some white space from templates. This makes it easier for users to write templates in a way that us human readable. The issue is acute once templates support syntax for expressing conditionals. At that point, it is common for templates to have 400 characters of template code generate a single line of output. For example, consider the following <templates> we wrote using experimental syntax to enable loops and conditionals. https://github.com/dart-lang/dart-api-app/blob/c65256f1ac4ea680f145355c3ae204fe195b3e43/client/web/doc_link.html These templates all need to avoid accidental white space so we end up with unreadable ~400 character lines. -Jacob 83209 1 rafaelw 2013-02-15 20:06:48 +0000 This is an interesting issue, but it's outside the scope of the goals for the current template element which is solely a mechanism for defining a prototype of dom fragments. It seems to me that a scripting mechanism using the template element has sufficient semantics to implement whatever policy it chooses for dealing with whitespace. 83514 2 jmesserly 2013-02-21 22:58:43 +0000 Hey Rafael, We were also seeing this problem with web components: <element name="..."> <template> ... contents ... </template> </element> What's the best way to deal with it in this case? We end up with extra whitespace text nodes. Maybe we can deal with this when we instantiate the shadow root?