Re: XSchema Spec, Section 2.2 (Element Declarations), Draft 3

Simon St.Laurent (SimonStL@classic.msn.com)
Tue, 7 Jul 98 13:14:12 UT


>Two nits:
>
>1) The More element should be optional (needs a "?").

Totally correct. Will be fixed quickly.

>2) Why is id optional? Is this to allow people to decide for themselves
>if they want to be reused?

I have a few problems with requiring id.

First, I'm still one of those terrible hand-coders. Being required to come up
with an ID for every piece is a hassle, especially for bits I'll never reuse.
This is not, of course, an issue for the authoring tools that will someday
(hopefully) take over the landscape.

Second, I know I can grab the same info with an XPointer without needing to go
to an ID. It may not be as quick, and the final syntax may be a little murky,
but I'm sure the functionality will be there.

I think id should be there - it makes life much easier for authoring and
management programs. I don't see a compelling reason to require it, given the
improvements in linking that XPointer makes possible. There may, of course,
be such a need that I haven't found yet.

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