Closed Bug 66116 Opened 24 years ago Closed 16 years ago

bookmarks.html should be correct HTML

Categories

(SeaMonkey :: Bookmarks & History, defect, P5)

Product:
SeaMonkey
Component:
Bookmarks & History
Type:
defect

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
RESOLVED WONTFIX
Milestone:
Future

People

(Reporter: bugzilla, Unassigned)

References

Details

(Keywords: compat, Whiteboard: [DONTFIX])

Attachments

(4 files)

diff to fix case in bookmarks.html (untested)
6.94 KB, patch
Details | Diff | Splinter Review
diff to use proper html in bookmarks.html
20.08 KB, patch
Details | Diff | Splinter Review
final diff to use proper html in bookmarks.html (text/plain)
24.61 KB, patch
Details | Diff | Splinter Review
real final diff to use proper html in bookmarks.html (text/plain)
24.61 KB, patch
Details | Diff | Splinter Review 
according to the xhtml reference, all tags should be lowercase.
In order for it to validate as xhtml you also need to append a trailing slash
("/") on tags without endtag. Like, for example, the <hr> tag.
Many 3rd party programs parse bookmarks.html, and expect it to be a certain way. Changing 
its format after all this time is a bad idea.
Good point. Anyone else nominating this for a WONTFIX?
If Mozilla is all about standards compliance we should follow through even with 
the bookmarks file.  Besides, the changes aren't major.  We aren't exactly 
declaring a new format.

I'll attach a patch that fixes both the lowercase issue and made sure all tags 
are properly terminated.
I'm an idiot.  Forgot to fix the k* variables.  The next patch incorporates 
everything from Henrik's original patch.
Ok, the next patch is the last one.  I promise. Fixed malformed kSeparator.
Status: NEW → ASSIGNED
Target Milestone: --- → Future
Paul Chen is now taking Bookmarks bugs. For your convenience, you can filter 
email notifications caused by this by searching for 'ilikegoats'.
Assignee: ben → pchen
Status: ASSIGNED → NEW
Mass move Ben's bugs dumped on me marked future with p5 to get off my untriaged
radar. You can filter out this email by looking for "ironstomachaussie"
Priority: -- → P5
Is there something special about the <!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>
 doctype? Shouldn't we be using a XHTML doctype? like XHTML 1.0 transitional.
Yes. The bookmarks type is not specific to mozilla.org's mozilla product and has
been used by netscape navigator for ages see
------- Additional Comments From Wade Majors 2001-01-21 13:23 -------

Many 3rd party programs parse bookmarks.html, and expect it to be a certain way.
Changing its format after all this time is a bad idea.

-------
IMO the bug as filed is WONTFIX, here's why: the bookmarks file is not XHTML,
it's the netscape bookmarks file format, which many applications recognize. 

Changing it to conform to some random standard which is not the bookmarks file
standard is crazy.  If I had a program that generated files that looked like
pcx's and someone standards SVG or PNG would you guys randomly insist on
changing the output of my program so that it match the format and header of SVG
or PNG?
I agree with WONTFIX. It would be better to spend energy migrating to one of the
proposed cross-application bookmarks standards. (Preferably something that
allows for aliases for both bookmarks and folders.)
Among such alternatives is the frequently filed XBEL.
Keywords: compat
Whiteboard: [DONTFIX]
Sorry, but I'm not convinced, can you come up with some sample applications
which parse the Netscape bookmarks file?
I see over 50 windows apps here:
http://tucows.tampabay.rr.com/bookmark95.html

And 2 bookmarks.html converter apps are in the FreeBSD ports collection:
http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/ports.cgi?query=bookmarks

I don't have time to apply the patch and try any of these apps, but I'm 
willing to bet more than half of them would act erroneously.

Please; Mozilla/Netscape6 is already getting a bad enough reputation from 
stuck up website developers who want to block us, and tell their vistors how 
horrible we are, and to use MSIE or NS4. Adding the developers of these apps 
(which are fairly popular) and their userbase to the mixisn't going to make 
the Mozilla evangelism project go over any easier.
19 @ freshmeat (freshmeat is usually linux apps, but text apps can usually be
coerced to run or try to run nearly anywhere)
http://freshmeat.net/search/?site=Freshmeat&q=netscape+bookmarks&section=projects

I'd say Wade's estimate is probably conservative.
mass reassign of pchen bookmark bugs to ben
Assignee: pchen → ben
I agree 100% ths should be WONTFIX. Yes, many apps rely on the current format,
including competing browsers, such as IE, to import and share bookmarks (not
that I advocate changing to IE). 3rd party management apps depend on it. Just
because this isn't valid HTML doesn't mean it SHOULD be.

When advocating stardards compliance, we strive for web standards, not any
standard for anythign that comes along. Additionally, since this is a file
internal to Mozilla, and not a general web document, there is no standard to
which we should adhere. There is no standard for bookmarks. There is no real
reason to change this after all these years, other than "just because". And that
reason isn't good enough.
*** Bug 132249 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Does claiming that bookmarks.html is purely internal (and therefore need not
adhere to any standard), and at the same time claiming "many apps rely on the
current format" strike anyone else as odd?

What about future apps that want to leverage existing standards-based libraries,
rather than trying to parse/write the current garbage format?
Where did we claim it was an internal format?
the claim is that mozilla can't change the format of
<!DOCTYPE NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1>
because it isn't mozilla's to change and there is a large base of programs built
based on its format.

There might not be anything wrong with changing the default format from the
frozen but popular NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1 to something else, e.g. XBEL.

But we can't go around changing the NETSCAPE-Bookmark-file-1 format.

Please spend some time reading about the history of the mbox file format.
actually, i don't trust you to spend the time searching for it. here's a link:
http://wp.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/2.0/relnotes/demo/content-length.html
Comment #21: "Additionally, since this is a file internal to Mozilla, and not a
general web document, there is no standard to which we should adhere."

I agree: using XBEL, RDF, or XHTML are all a much better solution, from the
perspecitive of reading/exporting/changing bookmarks from outside Mozilla.
I don't think I suggested altering the format, I just feel it should be dropped.

I'm not sure what the mbox reference was meant to convey...?

Mass reassign of my non-Firefox bugs to ben_seamonkey@hotmail.com
Assignee: bugs → ben_seamonkey
Mass reassign of my non-Firefox bugs to ben_seamonkey@hotmail.com
Mass reassign of my non-Firefox bugs to ben_seamonkey@hotmail.com
*** Bug 237550 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
In terms of breaking compatability with bookmark apps. Converting it to XML
shouldn't be a big deal, as it's only a matter of changing the tag case, and
adding "/" to  single elements (and getting rid of those <p> tags would also be
nice).
Infact converting to XML means that some people won't need to use a special
bookmark app in the first place, as they could simply apply an XSLT file and run
it through an XSLT processor (not talking about the average user here of course,
unless an app does it for them).
I think it should atleast be an option as it shouldn't be that hard to impliment.
Assignee: ben_seamonkey → p_ch
QA Contact: claudius → seamonkey.bookmarks
Product: Browser → Seamonkey
Reassigning as per Bug #32644
Assignee: p_ch → nobody
Firefox Trunk is using places (sqlite) these days and the plan is for the Suite to migrate to the places backend real soon now.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 16 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
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