4 ms·
> “make everything verbose, even when it’s already unambiguous” The idea is to make the language less context-sensitive and more consistent. It's better if the
by von_lohengramm 3y ago
> “make everything verbose, even when it’s already unambiguous”
The idea is to make the language less context-sensitive and more consistent. It's better if the meaning of `<p>` and `<p/>` don't change based on the parent tag. Now, obviously they failed at making the semantic changes necessary to achieve the goal, but a true XML-based language would've been far simpler both for humans and computers than what we've got now. Most of the author's points are entirely valid, but the conclusion really should've been "HTML is bad."
- bentley 3y agoBut the meaning does change based on the parent tag. <p> is not allowed to be nested, just like <li> and many other elements. Those are rules anyone writing markup has to remember, whether XML or not. Allowing <li> to close the previous <li> is a natural extension of that rule, and strikes a good balance between the rigor of XML and brevity of Markdown, whose context rules I find to be both less consistent and incredibly difficult to remember. (Can a list contain a list? Does ^ superscript a whole line or just a word? What elements can contain a table?)