RE: Case usage in element names, attribute names & attribute values

Simon St.Laurent (SimonStL@classic.msn.com)
Sat, 25 Apr 98 14:50:04 UT


>If someone were to create a grammar that mixed upper-case and lower-case
>would they have trouble getting people to adopt it? Is there a compelling
>reason to reject a mixed case grammar. To my eye, mixed case is more
>attractive. It's more like natural English.

I used all upper-case element and attribute names in XML: A Primer (and do so
generally) because it's a lot easier to separate markup from content visually
that way. Mixed case is more attractive if your document is really about the
markup, but I tend to be more interested in the content.

Since I'm one of those neanderthals who still does HTML and XML development by
hand in a text editor (or in source code), using uppercase is much handier.
It won't matter nearly as much to me when I find a program that I actually
_like_ to use for markup creation.

Some programs use all lower-case; I find that it doesn't stand out nearly as
well for me. I don't think anyone would have a problem with your proposal;
just make sure you make clear to all participants that _case matters_ when
starting out on your DTD design process.

Simon St.Laurent
Dynamic HTML: A Primer / XML: A Primer / Cookies