"Bob McConnell" <rvm@xxxxxxxxx> wrote on 07/02/2010 08:53:30 AM: > > Arguments against using/dismissing the "name" attribute in tags is > > simply nonsense. > > This discussion began when I pointed out that the name attribute is > deprecated in XHTML. This was later confirmed when someone pointed to > the actual specification at <http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/>, however > there may be some confusion about the scope of the change. The > applicable section is shown below. Apparently HTML 5 is planning to take > a different path. Of course, nobody knows that for sure since the spec > is far from complete and will likely be undergoing major changes for > several more years. > > Bob McConnell > > -----8<------------------------------------------------ > 4.10. The elements with 'id' and 'name' attributes > > HTML 4 defined the name attribute for the elements a, applet, form, > frame, iframe, img, and map. HTML 4 also introduced the id attribute. > Both of these attributes are designed to be used as fragment > identifiers. > > In XML, fragment identifiers are of type ID, and there can only be a > single attribute of type ID per element. Therefore, in XHTML 1.0 the id > attribute is defined to be of type ID. In order to ensure that XHTML 1.0 > documents are well-structured XML documents, XHTML 1.0 documents MUST > use the id attribute when defining fragment identifiers on the elements > listed above. See the HTML Compatibility Guidelines for information on > ensuring such anchors are backward compatible when serving XHTML > documents as media type text/html. > > Note that in XHTML 1.0, the name attribute of these elements is formally > deprecated, and will be removed in a subsequent version of XHTML. At the risk of injecting a little light into this discussion ;) note the list of elements in the excerpt Bob provided: a, applet, form, frame, iframe, img, and map. Almost all replies to date have referred to the name attribute of the *form elements*: input, select, and textarea. Two different sets of elements. As far as I am concerned, the "authorities" are free to remove the name attribute from the first set. I think it is safe to say that the name attribute will not be removed from the *form elements* anytime soon. For all with a holiday coming up this weekend, have a good one! Kirk
