[Irl-dean] Opinions: HTML Transitional and WCAG Double-A

[Barry McMullin]

On Tue, 9 Jan 2007, Gez Lemon wrote:

> It depends whether or not the author is depending on something that is
> available through the transitional DTD that isn't available in the
> strict DTD. For example, if someone absolutely cannot use JavaScript,
> but must have links that open in new windows (so that visitors can
> keep their place on a form, for example), then a transitional doctype
> is their only option.

Thanks Gez!

Now, not that I want to go off at a tangent or anything <wink>
but of course it is not actually possible any more to "force"
opening of a new window (whether using HTML Transitional or
javascript). But, at least for the use case Gez mentions
("keeping your place in a form"), presumably, in most browsers,
the back button is perfectly functional for this? (I'm not saying
this would be as satisfactory for "typical" users - it probably
wouldn't; but just that if, for whatever reason, a particular
user *prefers* that "new window" requests should not be honoured
by the user agent, this would not normally be an absolute show
stopper. Which, in turn, might mean it would be OK to implement
the new window request only via HTML Strict + javascript anyway
... )

That said, I do take Gez' point: if there are "legitimate" things
that one wants to do, that transitional allows but strict
doesn't, then that certainly makes a case for using transitional.

So now I'm curious: can anybody identify any *other* such cases
(i.e., apart from the "target" attribute as a device for
requesting a new window)?

Thanks - Barry.