Re: [dita] Namespaces and Schemas: Some Initial Findings andXSLT Implications

[Paul Grosso <pgrosso@arbortext.com>]

At 10:04 2004-06-29 -0500, Eliot Kimber wrote:
>Paul Grosso wrote:
>
>The whole issue of defaulted attributes in XML is one of the XML Big Lies, namely the assertion that there is no markup minimization in XML. There isn't *except* for defaulted attributes. In thinking about it now this suggests that there ought to be a simple, schema-compatible, way to define attribute defaults that is separate from the larger function of defining data types and content constraints so that processors could easily implement attribute defaulting without having to step up to full schema awareness, but it appears that this idea got lost in schema land (not surprisingly). Hmmm.

You can always declare attribute defaults in a separate file in DTD syntax
and then reference that file from the document instance's internal subset
or as the document's external subset.  The fact that one is using an XML 
Schema to validate things in no way prevents one from using DTD declarations
to do some things such as define attribute defaults.

>In any case, it poses a practical problem, hopefully addressed by the code mentioned in Eric's post on this same topic.

I may be stepping into a hornet's nest here, but let me suggest that we
shouldn't let the lowest common denominator of free software that doesn't
completely implement existing standards determine critical issues in the 
design of DITA.

paul