h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'll write up a tentative guide entry and post a link back here but I want to cover the self-closing tag, as this is something that I think confuses a lot of people.

Thinks like Blobs, paragraphs too can be made to be self-closing.

I can also emphaise the rule about opening and closing tags in GuideML.

How's that sound?

Clive.

It sounds brilliant!

Shall I add this as a new entry to be written or edit one of the existing titles?

RhoMuNuQ

Whatever. I was thinking I was working within the boundaries you'd already set out, but if you feel lie giving me my own category - go right ahead!

Feel free to write sections on any aspect you want. As this is a community/collaborative written entry, we can make each page up from a mixture of people's writings, and move things about.

spelugx

I'll add it as a new entry for now if you could think up a snappy title (which can be easily changed later!)

RhoMuNuQ

Simulpost!

As Spelugx said, nothing's set in stone by any means!

RhoMuNuQ

righteo!

I rather like the notion of making a rule and then breaking it, I might make those sub-headers within a page about the self-closing tag.

Clive

RhoMuNuQ

forgot to mention smileys - they are self-closing too!

A986114

been pottering about with some ideas...I've just slapped 'em down in plain text for now. and there's a hell of a lot more to do, but that's the link if you want it.

Clive.

Why do self-closing tags seem to people like making a rule and then breaking it? They're basically just shorthand, and ideal for tags where it's impossible to have any content inside anyway (like smileys in GuideML).

I think one of the main reasons they were introduced is because SGML allows tags with no closing, and to convert HTML from SGML to XML would have meant a lot of constructs like which you really can't see people adopting happily. is only one extra character, but has the massive advantage of being very easy for a program to parse, which is one of the main benefits of XML over SGML. If you see a /> you *know* you're not going to have to look for a closing tag, because you've already found it.

XML parsers are considerably easier to write than SGML ones. This is a Good Thing.

ah..well that's the voice of erudition and Someone Who Knows What they Are Talking About. (Tm) I was just going to write in a style that explained about the tags being opened and closed (and why this rule should be followed otherwise you get errors) but that how that 'rule' has several exceptions. - I've noted in my blurb, that they work like they do because they have no content - it's a point I was looking to develop on actually...[thinks] hmmmmm.

Best not to say there are exceptions, because

a) there aren't actually any
b) it may get people to thinking 'well that's a stupid rule then' which won't help them much

Perhaps better to remember to mention that since some tags, like <SMILEY> don't have any content, a shorthand form <SMILEY/> can be used instead of <SMILEY></SMILEY>. If it's presented as a shorthand for something that they can understand is within the rules, it should go down quite well without compromising the user's knowledge and understanding of XML syntax.

Any tag can be written using this shorthand - - but for some it makes more sense than others. The problem probably is that this isn't taught as an other rule for writing tags at the same time as normal closing tags, so people tend to see it as an exception not a rule.

The other short hands available in SGML are nice though <I/Bold-Italics/</> for example, much nicer.

spelugx

Thanks, Clive! I've added a link

I've got a few comments about the entry:
- The title might be better as the same as on the Index Page (which can easily be changed )
- We should try to avoid overlap in the entries - for example, there's already a half-written one on how to convert to GuideML!
- GuideML tags now work in lowercase as well as uppercase, but this isn't approved style and if you mix uppercase opening tags with lowercase closing tags (or vice versa) it doesn't work.

Looking good so far
RhoMuNuQ

I've started on an entry about how to steal bits of code from elswhere at A985917 which I will finish once I've stolen some more myself.


TSF

Hi!

The entry's got some good information - especially about the Test URLs - but I'm afraid it's not in the style of the rest of the project. Would you like to create a new entry with similar information in the style of A985935 or would you like me to do so, crediting you?

RhoMuNuQ

Hi!

The entry's got some good information - especially about the Test URLs - but I'm afraid it's not in the style of the rest of the project. Would you like to create a new entry with similar information in the style of A985935 or would you like me to do so, crediting you?

RhoMuNuQ

Oh, Clive, I've read your entry... it's not really just about self-closing tags, and neither is it really about general GuideML syntax...

um...okay. I was just throwing down ideas late last night maybe I should just hand this over to you? You seem to know more about this than I do.