<A> Cannot be a Container for <A>?

[Helge Moulding]

I've tried the following:

<a name="foo" class="foostyle ">Text in foo <a href="bar">link in foo</a>
and more text.</a>

I kinda thought that oughta work. But I found that foostyle is applied
only up to the link in foo. After that the style disappears. This
happens in both Mozilla and MSIE. Even adding contextual selectors to
the style doesn't help.

I played around with it using the Mozilla composer, and found that the
composer always repositions the </a> for the anchor to just before the
<a> for the link. To me that implies that an <A> cannot be a container
for an <A>. Is that correct? Or is there something else that I'm
overlooking?

Since I'm not likely going to change the implementation of 99% of the
browsers out there, it's more important that I figure out what to do
about this. What I'm doing is using a bit of script to switch styles
dynamically, to highlight a piece of text. The reason for doing it this
way stems from the fact that document.anchor s is supported by both
Mozilla and MSIE. I'd like the text to include links, but then the
highlight stops at the link. What I've done for now is to code it as

<a name="foo" href="bar" class="foostyle ">Text in foo with link in
foo and more text.</a>

which works, but has the unsatisfying side effect of turning the entire
section into a link, and limiting me to just one link per section.

http://www.rffutah.org/

is the page I'm talking about. The calendar on the right side is created
by the script, and when you move the mouse over the dates in September
(there are no hot dates in August), then the corresponding sections
above light up. I've removed the text underline, because an entire
section underlined looks unattractive. But if I knew of a way to get
around the "no <A> in <A>" limitation, I'd be a lot happier.
--
Helge Moulding
mailto:hm****** *@excite.com Just another guy
http://hmoulding.cjb.net/ with a weird name

[Neal]

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 13:28:23 -0600, Helge Moulding <hm*******@exci te.com>
wrote:

I've tried the following:

<a name="foo" class="foostyle ">Text in foo <a href="bar">link in foo</a>
and more text.</a>

I kinda thought that oughta work. But I found that foostyle is applied
only up to the link in foo. After that the style disappears. This
happens in both Mozilla and MSIE. Even adding contextual selectors to
the style doesn't help.

I played around with it using the Mozilla composer, and found that the
composer always repositions the </a> for the anchor to just before the
<a> for the link. To me that implies that an <A> cannot be a container
for an <A>. Is that correct? Or is there something else that I'm
overlooking?

http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#h-12.2.2

"Links and anchors defined by the A element must not be nested; an A
element must not contain any other A elements."

[Karl Groves]

"Helge Moulding" <hm*******@exci te.com> wrote in message
news:cg******** **@news.xmissio n.com...

I've tried the following:

<a name="foo" class="foostyle ">Text in foo <a href="bar">link in foo</a>
and more text.</a>

I kinda thought that oughta work.

Looks like you thought wrong, huh?
http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#h-12.2.2

-Karl

[Lars Eighner]

In our last episode,
<cg**********@n ews.xmission.co m>,
the lovely and talented Helge Moulding
broadcast on comp.infosystem s.www.authoring.html:

I've tried the following: <a name="foo" class="foostyle ">Text in foo <a href="bar">link in foo</a>
and more text.</a> I kinda thought that oughta work. But I found that foostyle is applied
only up to the link in foo. After that the style disappears. This
happens in both Mozilla and MSIE. Even adding contextual selectors to
the style doesn't help.
You didn't say what DTD you are using, but I can't find one that allows
<a> in <a>. Also, I bet you mean href="#bar". You can have both name
and href attributes in the same <a>. This might, or might not, do
what you want to do:

<span class="foostyle ">Text in foo <a name="foo" href="#bar">lin k in foo</a>
and more text.</span>

I played around with it using the Mozilla composer, and found that the
composer always repositions the </a> for the anchor to just before the
<a> for the link. To me that implies that an <A> cannot be a container
for an <A>. Is that correct?
Yes. You cannot nest <a>s.
Or is there something else that I'm
overlooking? Since I'm not likely going to change the implementation of 99% of the
browsers out there, it's more important that I figure out what to do
about this. What I'm doing is using a bit of script to switch styles
dynamically, to highlight a piece of text. The reason for doing it this
way stems from the fact that document.anchor s is supported by both
Mozilla and MSIE. I'd like the text to include links, but then the
highlight stops at the link. What I've done for now is to code it as <a name="foo" href="bar" class="foostyle ">Text in foo with link in
foo and more text.</a>
That will work too, if you really mean href="bar" instead of href="#bar".
which works, but has the unsatisfying side effect of turning the entire
section into a link, and limiting me to just one link per section. http://www.rffutah.org/ is the page I'm talking about. The calendar on the right side is created
by the script, and when you move the mouse over the dates in September
(there are no hot dates in August), then the corresponding sections
above light up. I've removed the text underline, because an entire
section underlined looks unattractive. But if I knew of a way to get
around the "no <A> in <A>" limitation, I'd be a lot happier.

--
Lars Eighner -finger for geek code- ei*****@io.com http://www.io.com/~eighner/
If it wasn't for muscle spasms, I wouldn't get any exercise at all.

[Jukka K. Korpela]

Lars Eighner <ei*****@io.com > wrote:

<a name="foo" class="foostyle ">Text in foo <a href="bar">link in
foo</a> and more text.</a>

I kinda thought that oughta work. But I found that foostyle is
applied only up to the link in foo. After that the style disappears.
This happens in both Mozilla and MSIE. Even adding contextual
selectors to the style doesn't help.

You didn't say what DTD you are using, but I can't find one that
allows <a> in <a>.

Well, there are several such DTDs: all XHTML DTDs. But why would that
matter? It's still against all HTML specifications - XML just is so
limited that the prohibition of <a> elements inside <a> elements cannot
be formally specified in a DTD (except by rewriting the DTD in a manner
that would make it _much_ longer and much more difficult to understand).
This might, or might
not, do what you want to do:

<span class="foostyle ">Text in foo <a name="foo" href="#bar">lin k in
foo</a> and more text.</span>

That's may impression too. Or maybe some other element instead of <span>,
but the OP hasn't explained the need for the outer <a> element. And maybe
without the name attribute - I don't see what it would be needed for.

--
Yucca, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/
Pages about Web authoring: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/www.html

[Jukka K. Korpela]

Lars Eighner <ei*****@io.com > wrote:

<a name="foo" class="foostyle ">Text in foo <a href="bar">link in
foo</a> and more text.</a>

I kinda thought that oughta work. But I found that foostyle is
applied only up to the link in foo. After that the style disappears.
This happens in both Mozilla and MSIE. Even adding contextual
selectors to the style doesn't help.

You didn't say what DTD you are using, but I can't find one that
allows <a> in <a>.

Well, there are several such DTDs: all XHTML DTDs. But why would that
matter? It's still against all HTML specifications - XML is just so
limited that the prohibition of <a> elements inside <a> elements cannot
be formally specified in a DTD (except by rewriting the DTD in a manner
that would make it _much_ longer and much more difficult to
understand).
This might, or might
not, do what you want to do:

<span class="foostyle ">Text in foo <a name="foo" href="#bar">lin k in
foo</a> and more text.</span>

That's my impression too. Or maybe some other element instead of
<span>, but the OP hasn't explained the need for the outer <a> element.
And maybe without the name attribute - I don't see what it would be
needed for.
--
Yucca, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/
Pages about Web authoring: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/www.html

[Vladdy]

Helge Moulding wrote:

I've tried the following:

<a name="foo" class="foostyle ">Text in foo <a href="bar">link in foo</a>
and more text.</a>

I kinda thought that oughta work. But I found that foostyle is applied
only up to the link in foo. After that the style disappears. This
happens in both Mozilla and MSIE. Even adding contextual selectors to
the style doesn't help.

I played around with it using the Mozilla composer, and found that the
composer always repositions the </a> for the anchor to just before the
<a> for the link. To me that implies that an <A> cannot be a container
for an <A>. Is that correct? Or is there something else that I'm
overlooking?

Since I'm not likely going to change the implementation of 99% of the
browsers out there, it's more important that I figure out what to do
about this. What I'm doing is using a bit of script to switch styles
dynamically, to highlight a piece of text. The reason for doing it this
way stems from the fact that document.anchor s is supported by both
Mozilla and MSIE. I'd like the text to include links, but then the
highlight stops at the link. What I've done for now is to code it as

<a name="foo" href="bar" class="foostyle ">Text in foo with link in
foo and more text.</a>

which works, but has the unsatisfying side effect of turning the entire
section into a link, and limiting me to just one link per section.

http://www.rffutah.org/

is the page I'm talking about. The calendar on the right side is created
by the script, and when you move the mouse over the dates in September
(there are no hot dates in August), then the corresponding sections
above light up. I've removed the text underline, because an entire
section underlined looks unattractive. But if I knew of a way to get
around the "no <A> in <A>" limitation, I'd be a lot happier.

This should solve your problem: www.vladdy.net/Demos/IEPseudoClassesFix.html

And remember presentation comes after semantically meaninfull mark-up

--
Vladdy
http://www.klproductions.com

[Lars Eighner]

In our last episode,
<Xn************ *************** **@193.229.0.31 >,
the lovely and talented Jukka K. Korpela
broadcast on comp.infosystem s.www.authoring.html:

Lars Eighner <ei*****@io.com > wrote:

<a name="foo" class="foostyle ">Text in foo <a href="bar">link in
foo</a> and more text.</a>

I kinda thought that oughta work. But I found that foostyle is
applied only up to the link in foo. After that the style disappears.
This happens in both Mozilla and MSIE. Even adding contextual
selectors to the style doesn't help.

You didn't say what DTD you are using, but I can't find one that
allows <a> in <a>.

Well, there are several such DTDs: all XHTML DTDs.
I have been wrong before but my copy of XHTML 1.0 Strict declares:

<!ELEMENT a %a.content>

and entity a.content does not include a.
But why would that
matter? It's still against all HTML specifications - XML just is so
limited that the prohibition of <a> elements inside <a> elements cannot
be formally specified in a DTD (except by rewriting the DTD in a manner
that would make it _much_ longer and much more difficult to understand).

I know nothing about XML, but it appears to me that at least one
XHTML DTD has managed to specify that <a> cannot include <a>.
--
Lars Eighner -finger for geek code- ei*****@io.com http://www.io.com/~eighner/
If it wasn't for muscle spasms, I wouldn't get any exercise at all.

[Jukka K. Korpela]

Lars Eighner <ei*****@io.com > wrote:

I have been wrong before but my copy of XHTML 1.0 Strict declares:

<!ELEMENT a %a.content>

and entity a.content does not include a.

Well, we are both wrong. :-) Unlike I remembered, the DTD indeed forbids
an <a> element as a child (immediate subelement) of another <a> element.
But it does not forbid an <a> element inside <a>, since in a.content,
several elements may contain <a> elements and there's no exclusion
mechanism to forbid this. Thus, <a><a></a></a> triggers a syntax error,
but <a><span><a></a></span></a> does not.

(Cf. to http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#h-4.9 )

--
Yucca, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/
Pages about Web authoring: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/www.html

[Helge Moulding]

Neal wrote,

http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#h-12.2.2
"Links and anchors defined by the A element must not be nested; an A
element must not contain any other A elements."

Thanks for the pointer. I suspected something like this was the case, since
both major browsers behave that way.
--
Helge Moulding
mailto:hm****** *@excite.com Just another guy
http://hmoulding.cjb.net/ with a weird name