ISSUE-77: Obsolete but Conforming
Deprecate/Obsolete
Obsolete but Conforming
- State:
- CLOSED
- Product:
- HTML 5 spec
- Raised by:
- Shelley Powers
- Opened on:
- 2009-08-10
- Description:
- The text of the current HTML 5 draft does not contain the sections in previous versions of HTML in regards to Deprecated and Obsolete HTML elements[1].
Instead, the current document references terms such as "obsolete but conforming" [2], leaving a great deal of confusion about just what this means, and about the state of the elements so described. [3][4].
In addition, several valid HTML 4 elements and attributes have been described as obsolete in HTML 5, not deprecated, which does not provide a graceful transition period for people to remove these elements/attributes from their web documents.
Considering how widespread the support for deprecated is within the technology industry[5], the HTML 5 specification should return to the previously defined sections describing deprecated and obsolete as listed in the HTML 4 document. Doing so will ensure that older HTML elements aren't abruptly dropped, causing confusion. This move will also ensure that there is a procedure in place to ensure that when an element is dropped, it's dropped in favor of a replacement that provides the same, or enhanced functionality. It will also help clarify confusion caused by using terminology not used previously with any other known specification.
[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/conform.html#deprecated
[2] http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html#obsolete
[3] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2009Aug/0121.html
[4] http://realtech.burningbird.net/deprecated-is-now-obsolete
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deprecation - Related Actions Items:
- No related actions
- Related emails:
- Re: Begin discussions for pushing Last Call into 2010 (from shelleyp@burningbird.net on 2009-08-12)
- Re: Begin discussions for pushing Last Call into 2010 (from mjs@apple.com on 2009-08-12)
- Re: Begin discussions for pushing Last Call into 2010 (from shelleyp@burningbird.net on 2009-08-12)
- Re: Begin discussions for pushing Last Call into 2010 (from rubys@intertwingly.net on 2009-08-12)
- ISSUE-77 (Deprecate/Obsolete): Obsolete but Conforming [HTML 5 spec] (from sysbot+tracker@w3.org on 2009-08-10)
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