Re: DOCBOOK: Re: Linking in DocBook V5.0

[Bob Stayton <bobs@caldera.com>]

> From: Norman Walsh <ndw@nwalsh.com>
> 
> / Bob Stayton <bobs@caldera.com> was heard to say:
> | This is why I think it is not yet practical to let 
> | <para> or other higher constructs be simple xlinks.  The
> | current delivery mechanisms can't express that very well.
> | And if it can't be expressed, I doubt it will be used much.
> 
> Yes, that's one of the factors that motivates me as well. We'll have
> enough trouble with nested inlines. (And, btw, my gut reaction is to
> generate broken HTML. The browser ought to handle nested links, gosh
> darn it. Oh, I know I'll get talked out of it, but that's still my gut
> reaction.)

Just for fun I tested nesting <A> elements:

<A href=foo>Starting <A href=bar>a link</A> and ending</A>

Netscape and IE5 actually handle this up to first
closing </A>.  "Starting" goes to foo, and "a link"
goes to bar.  But the first </A> closes both
and so "and ending" is not hot text at all.  

Given that the SGML content model of <A> in DocBook 4.0
explicitly excludes <A>, this isn't too surprising.

bobs
Bob Stayton                                 400 Encinal Street
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                                            email: bobs@caldera.com