Arjun Ray scripsit:

>  A sociological fact is one thing.  Deeming it immutable and more, worthy
>  of sanction in the form of a standard to enforce it, is another.

I am not treating it as immutable, nor worthy of sanction.  I simply say
that a design which ignores it will not fly.

>  (Also, isn't DSDL in the picture here?  Why then is just the current state
>  of only the "XML community" decisive?)

AFAIK all known DSDL parts are XML-related.

>  | There simply does not exist any generally accepted view of when attributes 
>  | should be used rather than child elements.  
>  
>  I note that you dodged the question again. ;-)

Are you asking for my *personal* views?

>  I don't see how neutrality is important, unless it is established policy
>  to bless what appears to be current practice, no matter how ill-informed.

If current practice is disregarded, we are writing for the trunk, something
I have no desire to do.

>  | excepting the obvious (attributes are unordered and can't contain elements
>  | or other attributes).
>  
>  So, if they are different, why the push for identical treatment?

I didn't say "identical", I said "as identical as possible".

>  I also
>  note (in view of a recent thread) that it seems to be a common maturation
>  experience to grow from attribute-happy to element-wise.  I don't see how
>  making potentially unwise decisions even easier than they are would make
>  experience acquired any less painful.   

I don't intend to be in the business of legislating how programmers and
document designers do their jobs.  Sharp tools cut.

-- 
John Cowan <jcowan@[...].com>      http://www.reutershealth.com
I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen,    http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith.  --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_

-----------------------------------------------------------------
The xml-dev list is sponsored by XML.org <http://www.xml.org> , an
initiative of OASIS <http://www.oasis-open.org> 

The list archives are at http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/

To subscribe or unsubscribe from this list use the subscription
manager: <http://lists.xml.org/ob/adm.pl>