Re: lynx-dev <BR> does not accumulate

[Philip Webb]

980814 Jason McBrayer wrote, with Michael Warner's support:
> A <br> is not a carriage return in a procedural markup system,
> it's a line-break in a structural markup system.  The broken behavior
> of the major browsers (and thus the pressure to have lynx emulate them)
> is the result of mistaken belief that html is a procedural markup system.

the case i have been arguing has nothing to do with other browsers.

> In my opinion, though, Lynx should default to upholding open standards
> rather than trying to conform to the behavior of the Big Browsers

i have argued at great length that the HTML 4.0 specs are broken in this case,
because they do not give clear & consistent directions.
the problem arises not with other browsers,
but for users of Lynx who get trapped between the common practice
by document authors of treating  <BR><BR>  as equal to  <P>
& versions of  lynx.cfg  (beyond their control or at least their ken)
which have  COLLAPSE_BR_TAGS:TRUE ;
this thread started because one such user asked lynx-dev for help
& i replied, commenting on the side that Lynx behaviour was wrong.

i'm reminded here a bit of trying to explain to religious fundamentalists
that the words of the King James Bible are translations
from ancient languages, which in places were codifying oral traditions,
& who keep replying: "Well, I still say every word is true".
it is not unreasonable to see the Bible as having some divine authority,
but it IS loony to suggest that the authors of the HTML 4.0 specs
were incapable of errors, omissions, inconsistencies
& all the other human weaknesses we all suffer from sometimes.

the section of the HTML 4.0 specs on <BR> is not properly thought out
& Lynx should therefore try to follow common sense & common WWW usage.
David Henderson's patch seems to me to do that.

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