To validate or not to validate, that is the question

[John Cowan]

Martin Bryan wrote:

> Why does this group seem to feel there is an overpowering need to develop a
> DTD that can be used to validate the compound structure, rather than its
> individual fragments?

I think your model of "compound document" is too simple.  You seem
to model it as a set of self-contained fragments enclosed in a
container.

I expect to see much more complex documents:  a Chemical ML description
of a molecule, with (a) embedded HTML English-language documentation,
which itself contains several inclusions of MathML, and (b) a SMIL
document that marshals a non-XML movie of the molecule.  How would
you validate just the HTML part, given that the HTML DTD does not
understand MathML?

-- 
John Cowan	http://www.ccil.org/~cowan		cowan at ccil.org
	You tollerday donsk?  N.  You tolkatiff scowegian?  Nn.
	You spigotty anglease?  Nnn.  You phonio saxo?  Nnnn.
		Clear all so!  'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)

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