si-blog
the web log of Simon Jessey
Monday, September 23rd, 2002
Why do we need a deprecated element in XHTML 2.0?
The first Working Draft of
XHTML 2.0 includes
the <br />
element. The element is referred to as deprecated in favor of the new
<line> element.
This new element has far more structural control than <br /> did. It
will also allow the author to control the appearance of individual lines with
CSS. Since
XHTML 2.0 is not intended
to be backwards-compatible with previous versions of
XHTML or
HTML, I do not understand why any
kind of deprecated element should be included. Surely the old <br />
element should be completely removed from the specification?
I also notice that the Working Draft details a
presentation module, featuring the
<hr />
element, <sub> and <sup>. I would argue that inline
controls like subscript and superscript probably have a place in the specification, in the
same way as <em> and <strong>, but I see no need for the
horizontal rule element, since it is purely presentational and can be easily mimicked with
some simple CSS. I believe
<hr /> should be removed.