xml-dev - Re:Whitespace

[Sean Mc Grath <digitome@iol.ie>]

>
>>Sean Mc Grath
>> >On Mon, 25 Aug 1997, Sean Mc Grath wrote:
>> >> User A : "What file format is that?"
>> >> User B : "It's MicroScape XML."
>> >> User A : "I better buy a copy of MicroScape so - otherwise the white space
>> >> will get busted again".
>> 
>> [Liam Quin]
>> >If this happens, it wlil be time to standardise whitespace handling at the
>> >applicaton level, perhaps.  Right now, I fnd this argument totally bogus.
>> 
>> What are you saying? Lets wait and see if the horse bolts - if he
>> does we will lock the barn door?
>> 
>> Sean Mc Grath

[Neil Bradley] 
>I agree with you totally. The horse will bolt, for certain. I want to 
>be able to use XML editor A, and allow people to view the 
>output on browser B and C, publish it on DTP system D,
>send the data to someone else using editor E,
>and let people search for pseude-elements using extended pointers
>in products E and F, and all without extra spaces appearing or
>vital spaces disappearing at any point.
>
[Lots of v. good points about WS elided]

Is this a fair summary of the position then? :-

1) WS handling is an application convention - not part of the XML standard

2) Different applicatioms are free to have different conventions

3) There is a generally agreed need to work out some conventions/idioms
because:-
        a) They will give app. developers a leg up on a potentially
difficult topic
        b) They will hopefully contain the "distilled essense" of the WS
intelligensia
        c) They will give tools purchasers a stick with which to beat
vendors IFF divigations
        from the conventions prove troublesome. I.e. "does your XML tool
support the Bradley
        conventions for white space handling...?"

If so. Lets go for it. How about we concentrate in the first instance on
inter-operability
of straight XML editing tools?

                



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