I stole part of the title from a tweet by Deborah A. Lapeyre that reads:
HTML5 and XML: War? Snub fest? Harmony? How should they interact? pre-Balisage 1-day Symposium. Come be heard! https://www.balisage.net/HTML5-XML/index.html
As you will gather from the tweet, Balisage is having a one day pre-conference meeting on HTML5 and XML. From the Symposium page:
Despite a decade of efforts dedicated to making XML the markup language of the Web, today it is HTML5 that has taken on that role. While HTML5 can in part be made to work with an XML syntax, reliance on that feature is rare compared to use of HTML5’s own syntax.
Over the years, the competition between these two approaches has led to animosity and frustration. But both XML and HTML5 are now clearly here to stay, and with the upcoming standardisation of HTML5 in 2014 it is now time to take stock and see how both technologies — and both communities — can coöperate constructively.
There are many environments in which these two markup languages are brought to interact. Additionally, there is much that they can learn from one another. We are looking forward to sharing experiences and ideas that bring the two together.
- Mending fences and saving babies Robin Berjon
- Non-Extensible Markup Language Domenic Denicola
- XML on the Web Alex Miłowski, University of Edinburgh
- Practical processing of HTML5 as XML and XML as HTML5 Phil Fearon, DeltaXML Ltd
- Rich Hypermedia: Making readers first class citizens on the web Steven J. DeRose
- Lightning talks Symposium participants
- Where should the Web go in the next 25 years?
Does HTML 5 have the role of markup language of the Web?
As far as layout engines, you would have to say “partial support” for HTML5 at best.
And the number I was hearing last year was 10% of the Web using HTML5. Have you heard differently?
I’m sure the W3C is absolutely certain that HTML5 is the very thing for the Web but remember it wasn’t all that long ago that they abandoned their little red RDF wagon to its own fate. With enough money you can promote anything for more than a decade. Adoption, well, that’s something else entirely.
For me the obvious tip-off about HTML5 came from its description at Wikipedia HTML5:
It includes detailed processing models to encourage more interoperable implementations;
Anyone who needs a “detailed processing models” for “interoperability” doesn’t understand the nature of markup languages.
Markup languages capture the structure of documents in order for documents to be interchanged between applications. So long as an application can parse the document into its internal model and deliver the expected result to its user, then the document is “interoperable” between the applications.
What the W3C is attempting to hide behind its processing models is forcing users to view materials as defined by others. That is they want to take away your right to view and/or process a document as you want. Such as avoiding advertising or reformatting a document after removal of advertising.
Do you remember Rocky Horror Picture Show? And Janet’s comment about Rocky was “Well, I don’t like men with too many muscles.”
And Dr. Frank N. Furter’s response?
I didn’t make him for you!
Same can be said for HTML5. They didn’t make it for you.
If you think differently, bring your false gods to the HTML5 and XML: Mending Fences: A Balisage pre-conference symposium. Stay for the conference. It will give you time to find a new set of false gods.