Re: character references, trailing ';', urls

Jorge wrote:
> On Mon, May 05, 2014 at 12:54:06AM +0000, eocene wrote:
> > Jorge wrote:
> > > On Sun, May 04, 2014 at 09:09:48PM +0000, eocene wrote:
> > > > This msg says that it was changed because it wasn't required under
> > > > certain conditions. HTML4 spec gives it as:
> > > > 
> > > >   Note. In SGML, it is possible to eliminate the final ";" after a
> > > >   character reference in some cases (e.g., at a line break or
> > > >   immediately before a tag). In other circumstances it may not be
> > > >   eliminated (e.g., in the middle of a word). We strongly suggest
> > > >   using the ";" in all cases to avoid problems with user agents that
> > > >   require this character to be present.
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > ...and there's an "IIRC" in the msg that XHTML requires it.
> > > > 
> > > > The HTML5 spec requires a terminating ';' in all cases.
> > > 
> > >   Then, it looks like requiring it again in this case may be
> > > the way to go (I seem to recall there were lots of unterminated NBSP).
> > 
> > Are you saying always for html5, (probably) always for xhtml, and for
> > attributes with html4?
> 
>   I'm saying we should find a simple heuristic that copes with
> the current situation.

If you want simple, I can just require it unconditionally and
find out what happens.

> > >   A long long time ago people thought that SGML was the final
> > > solution, then XML, then HTML5, now they're looking for an
> > > alternative technology to base the web upon...
> > 
> > Where have they been talking about an alternative technology?
> 
>   I  remember short ago, reading somewhere in the news that there
> were  funds  and  a  call  for  people  with expertise to work on
> designing an alternative technology for the web (to try to tackle
> the enormous amount of complexity full blown browsers have become
> not to mention the disparate user experience this creates).

I wish them luck. HTML5 is the most ridiculous possible document.