4 ms·
Strictly speaking, though, comments aren't part of the HTML document -- the tagging pair < + ! indicates that you are stepping out of the HTML document to provi
by stan_rogers 17y ago
Strictly speaking, though, comments aren't part of the HTML document -- the tagging pair < + ! indicates that you are stepping out of the HTML document to provide SGML content, in this case, a comment about the HTML document. Yes, that is splitting hairs, but the point of the SGML markup is to signal to the user agent how documents and document particles should be handled (the doctype is an example of this), and the SGML comment tag is a "do not process this particle" handling instruction. It really shouldn't be accessible to the user agent at all.
- pwmanagerdied 17y agoIt should be noted that there's already a precedent for comments having real meaning: IE's conditional comments, which many sites use to apply different stylesheets to IE users.
- stan_rogers 17y agoWhen did "IE does it" become indicative of standard, expected behaviour? Just askin'.
- pwmanagerdied 17y agoI agree that their decisions are often a good indication of what not to do, but from a practical perspective it is a good example of why page rewriting needs to be done cautiously, if it must be done at all.