Re: [xml2rfc-dev] RFC 7991 issue #37: Schema Issue, RFC 7991, In Section 2.12, <br>

[Henrik Levkowetz <[e-mail]>]

Hi Julian,

On 2018-10-04 15:32, Julian Reschke wrote:
> On 10/4/2018 3:01 PM, Henrik Levkowetz wrote:
>> 
>> On 2018-10-04 12:22, Julian Reschke wrote:
>>> On 10/4/2018 10:46 AM, Henrik Levkowetz wrote:
>> 
>>> The point being: when we discussed this we decided we don't want to give
>>> authors control over line breaking; except in this specific exception in
>>> table cells.
>> 
>> Julian, what you're saying here makes me sad.  I read this as you saying
>> that since the design team made one decision, you're not going to accept
>> any changes even if to other people, with new experience, another decision
>> makes more sense.  Because this point is not speaking to any arguments
>> about the usefulness and consistency of <br> at ail, it is saying that
>> since your decision was such then, it has to be such now.
>> 
>> In that case, what is the meaning with having these discussions at all?
>> 
>> Are you open only to make changes that you felt were necessary already
>> before the implementation and user experience came in?
>> ...
> 
> No - that's not what I'm saying.
> 
> I tried to explain how we got to the current spec. You also haven't 
> convinced me that any of the alternatives (forbid <br> in table cells, 
> or allow it in more places) makes the vocabulary better.

That I haven't convinced you is fine.  You haven't convinced me either; I
feel it's a wart to stick <br> into one single particular place in the
schema and disallow it everywhere else.  It violates the principle of
least surprise[1], for an author.

However, that it was possible to read the paragraph above, 

  "... we decided we don't want to give authors control over line breaking ..."

as an argument in the case, is not good.  If we are going to have a reasoned
argument based on new information, then referring back to "... we decided ..."
as part of the argumentation is just going to get us stuck.

> I don't have any more control over the process than you have, I'm just 
> offering my opinion.

Ack.  No worries.

	Henrik

-----

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_astonishment