On Mon, 12 Apr 2004, Jukka K. Korpela wrote:
> On Mon, 12 Apr 2004, Ian Hickson wrote:
>> If you have *blocks* of text in which the newlines are important, then it
>> is preformatted text, and the <pre> element is relevant.
>
> Maybe, but <pre> has _four_ components in its meaning:
> - preserve newlines
> - do not wrap
> - preserve spaces
> - use monospace font.

No, it has one meaning. "The contents have already been formatted and
shouldn't be formatted further". In effect it is an "escape" from HTML's
user agent stylesheet.


> The meaning of the code is not changed if it is wrapped.

Python and JavaScript are both languages where newlines can affect the
semantics of the code.


> My point has been that there are cases where things are not just
> presentational. When dealing with spaces only, it's just extra comfort
> to be able to use <nobr>...</nobr> and not lots of no-break spaces. With
> _other_ characters, it's a different story. Consider a language where an
> identifier can begin with "?" and an identifier must not be broken into
> two lines.

I have lost track of whether you are arguing in favour of <code> and
saying that <nobr> should be deprecated or arguing in favour of <nobr> and
saying that it is not purely presentational (or some other argument). Both
seem to be supported by the paragraph I quoted above, depending on how you
read it.

-- 
Ian Hickson                                      )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
U+1047E                                         /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
http://index.hixie.ch/                          `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'