Re: HTML and end tags

Dave_Raggett (dsr@hplb.hpl.hp.com)
Fri, 7 Jan 94 18:05:23 GMT


> So at the very least this brings up the question of what is
> the meaning of the following:

> <PRE>
> <A HREF=reference>this is some text
> <A NAME=here>that is all</A>
> an anchor.</A>
> </PRE>

In my parser, the second <A> start tag automatically terminates the
first since anchors can't be nested, so the above is equivalent to:

<PRE>
<A HREF=reference>this is some text
</A><A NAME=here>that is all</A>
an anchor.</A>
</PRE>

The DTD *REQUIRES* the closing tag, but my topdown parser knows what elements
are permitted in any context and hence can easily insert missing tags.

It doesn't handle <A HREF="..."><H1>some text</H1></A> very well, though,
as it sees an empty anchor, then a little later an unexpected </A> tag
which it ignores, but you can't win all the time ...

Dave Raggett