[XML-SIG] Problem parsing the xhtml dtd

[tpassin@home.com]

Martin v. Loewis asks -

> XML 1.0 says
>
> # A special attribute named xml:space may be attached to an element to
> # signal an intention that in that element, white space should be
> # preserved by applications. In valid documents, this attribute, like
> # any other, must be declared if it is used. When declared, it must be
> # given as an enumerated type whose only possible values are "default"
> # and "preserve".
>
> As a non-native speaker of English, that sentence sounds ambiguous to
> me: Does it mean that xml:space must have no more, no less than
> "default" and "preserve" as possible values, or does it mean it may
> have less than these values?
>

There is an illustration in the Rec, right after the section that Martin
quoted:

<!ATTLIST poem   xml:space (default|preserve) 'preserve'>

To this native speaker of English, the text seems to mean exactly the same
thing as the example does.  To arrive at this conclusion, I must take the
text in a very literal (or 'formal') way.  A colloquial reading could give
the impression that one of the two values could be omitted.

Cheers,

Tom Passin