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Remove mentions of XSLT from the html spec #11563

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3b0f22a
Remove mentions of XSLT from the html spec
mfreed7 Aug 14, 2025
d88df19
Minor cleanup
mfreed7 Aug 14, 2025
970d55a
Put back old template-XSLT-XPath ref
mfreed7 Oct 10, 2025
c30c6ce
retain one more ID
annevk Oct 11, 2025
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -2033,12 +2033,6 @@ a.setAttribute('href', 'https://example.com/'); // change the content attribute
so that users can interact with them, unless the semantics of those elements have been
overridden by other specifications.</p>

<p class="example">A conforming web browser would, upon finding a <code>script</code> element in
an XML document, execute the script contained in that element. However, if the element is found
within a transformation expressed in XSLT (assuming the user agent also supports XSLT), then the
processor would instead treat the <code>script</code> element as an opaque element that forms
part of the transform.</p>

<p>Web browsers that support <span>the HTML syntax</span> must process documents labeled with an
<span>HTML MIME type</span> as described in this specification, so that users can interact with
them.</p>
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -2432,12 +2426,6 @@ a.setAttribute('href', 'https://example.com/'); // change the content attribute
data-x-href="https://www.w3.org/TR/xml-stylesheet/#the-xml-stylesheet-processing-instruction"><code>&lt;?xml-stylesheet?></code></dfn>
processing instruction, defined in <cite>Associating Style Sheets with XML documents</cite>.
<ref>XMLSSPI</ref></p>

<p>This specification also non-normatively mentions the <dfn><code>XSLTProcessor</code></dfn>
interface and its <dfn><code
data-x="dom-XSLTProcessor-transformToFragment">transformToFragment()</code></dfn> and <dfn><code
data-x="dom-XSLTProcessor-transformToDocument">transformToDocument()</code></dfn> methods.
<ref>XSLTP</ref></p>
</dd>


Expand Down Expand Up @@ -5032,7 +5020,7 @@ a.setAttribute('href', 'https://example.com/'); // change the content attribute

<div w-nodev>

<h4>Interactions with XPath and XSLT</h4>
<h4 id="interactions-with-xpath-and-xslt">Interactions with XPath</h4>

<p id="xpath-1.0-processors">Implementations of XPath 1.0 that operate on <span>HTML
documents</span> parsed or created in the manners described in this specification (e.g. as part of
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -5094,45 +5082,6 @@ a.setAttribute('href', 'https://example.com/'); // change the content attribute
used for HTML elements. <ref>XPATH10</ref></p> <!-- note: version matters for
this ref -->

<hr>

<p id="dom-based-xslt-1.0-processors">XSLT 1.0 processors outputting to a DOM when the output
method is "html" (either explicitly or via the defaulting rule in XSLT 1.0) are affected as
follows:</p>

<p>If the transformation program outputs an element in no namespace, the processor must, prior to
constructing the corresponding DOM element node, change the namespace of the element to the
<span>HTML namespace</span>, <span data-x="converted to ASCII lowercase">ASCII-lowercase</span> the
element's local name, and <span data-x="converted to ASCII lowercase">ASCII-lowercase</span> the
names of any non-namespaced attributes on the element.</p>

<p class="note">This requirement is a <span>willful violation</span> of the XSLT 1.0
specification, required because this specification changes the namespaces and case-sensitivity
rules of HTML in a manner that would otherwise be incompatible with DOM-based XSLT
transformations. (Processors that serialize the output are unaffected.) <ref>XSLT10</ref></p> <!--
note: version matters for this ref -->

<hr>

<p>This specification does not specify precisely how XSLT processing interacts with the <span>HTML
parser</span> infrastructure (for example, whether an XSLT processor acts as if it puts any
elements into a <span>stack of open elements</span>). However, XSLT processors must <span>stop
parsing</span> if they successfully complete, and must <span>update the current document
readiness</span> first to "<code data-x="">interactive</code>" and then to "<code
data-x="">complete</code>" if they are aborted.</p>

<hr>

<p>This specification does not specify how XSLT interacts with the <span
data-x="navigate">navigation</span> algorithm, how it fits in with the <span>event loop</span>, nor
how error pages are to be handled (e.g. whether XSLT errors are to replace an incremental XSLT
output, or are rendered inline, etc.).</p>

<p class="note">There are also additional non-normative comments regarding the interaction of XSLT
and HTML <a href="#scriptTagXSLT">in the <code>script</code> element section</a>, and of
XSLT, XPath, and HTML <a href="#template-XSLT-XPath">in the <code>template</code> element
section</a>.</p>

</div>


Expand Down Expand Up @@ -12469,7 +12418,7 @@ partial interface <dfn id="document" data-lt="">Document</dfn> {
<p>The nodes representing <span>HTML elements</span> in the DOM <span w-nodev>must</span>
implement, and expose to scripts, the interfaces listed for them in the relevant sections of this
specification. This includes <span>HTML elements</span> in <span>XML documents</span>, even when
those documents are in another context (e.g. inside an XSLT transform).</p>
those documents are in another context.</p>

<p>Elements in the DOM <dfn data-x="represents">represent</dfn> things; that is, they have
intrinsic <em>meaning</em>, also known as semantics.</p>
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -66835,12 +66784,10 @@ document.body.append(script1, script2);
<p class="note">The definition of <span data-x="concept-n-noscript">scripting is
disabled</span> means that, amongst others, the following scripts will not execute: scripts in
<code>XMLHttpRequest</code>'s <code data-x="dom-XMLHttpRequest-responseXML">responseXML</code>
documents, scripts in <code>DOMParser</code>-created documents, scripts in documents created by
<code>XSLTProcessor</code>'s <code
data-x="dom-XSLTProcessor-transformToDocument">transformToDocument</code> feature, and scripts
documents, scripts in <code>DOMParser</code>-created documents, and scripts
that are first inserted by a script into a <code>Document</code> that was created using the
<code data-x="dom-DOMImplementation-createDocument">createDocument()</code> API. <ref>XHR</ref>
<ref>DOMPARSING</ref> <ref>XSLTP</ref> <ref>DOM</ref></p>
<ref>DOMPARSING</ref> <ref>DOM</ref></p>
</li>

<li>
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -67593,52 +67540,6 @@ not-slash = %x0000-002E / %x0030-10FFFF
</div>


<div w-nodev>

<h5 id="scriptTagXSLT">Interaction of <code>script</code> elements and XSLT</h5>

<!-- NON-NORMATIVE SECTION -->

<p>This specification does not define how XSLT interacts with the <code>script</code> element.
However, in the absence of another specification actually defining this, here are some guidelines
for implementers, based on existing implementations:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>When an XSLT transformation program is triggered by an <code
data-x="">&lt;?xml-stylesheet?></code> processing instruction and the browser implements a
direct-to-DOM transformation, <code>script</code> elements created by the XSLT processor need to
have its <span>parser document</span> set correctly, and run in document order (modulo scripts
marked <code data-x="attr-script-defer">defer</code> or <code
data-x="attr-script-async">async</code>), <span>immediately</span>, as the transformation is
occurring.</p></li>

<li><p>The <code>XSLTProcessor</code> <code
data-x="dom-XSLTProcessor-transformToDocument">transformToDocument()</code> method adds elements
to a <code>Document</code> object with a null <span data-x="concept-document-bc">browsing
context</span>, and, accordingly, any <code>script</code> elements they create need to have
their <span>already started</span> set to true in the <span>prepare the script element</span>
algorithm and never get executed (<span data-x="concept-environment-noscript">scripting is
disabled</span>). Such <code>script</code> elements still need to have their <span>parser
document</span> set, though, such that their <code data-x="dom-script-async">async</code> IDL
attribute will return false in the absence of an <code data-x="attr-script-async">async</code>
content attribute.</p></li>

<li><p>The <code>XSLTProcessor</code> <code
data-x="dom-XSLTProcessor-transformToFragment">transformToFragment()</code> method needs to
create a fragment that is equivalent to one built manually by creating the elements using <code
data-x="dom-document-createElementNS">document.createElementNS()</code>. For instance, it needs
to create <code>script</code> elements with null <span>parser document</span> and with their
<span>already started</span> set to false, so that they will execute when the fragment is
inserted into a document.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>The main distinction between the first two cases and the last case is that the first two
operate on <code>Document</code>s and the last operates on a fragment.</p>

</div>



<h4>The <dfn element><code>noscript</code></dfn> element</h4>

<dl class="element">
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -68128,24 +68029,16 @@ interface <dfn interface>HTMLTemplateElement</dfn> : <span>HTMLElement</span> {

<div w-nodev>

<h5 id="template-XSLT-XPath">Interaction of <code>template</code> elements with XSLT and XPath</h5>
<h5 id="template-XSLT-XPath">Interaction of <code>template</code> elements with XPath</h5>

<!-- NON-NORMATIVE SECTION -->

<p>This specification does not define how XSLT and XPath interact with the <code>template</code>
<p>This specification does not define how XPath interacts with the <code>template</code>
element. However, in the absence of another specification actually defining this, here are some
guidelines for implementers, which are intended to be consistent with other processing described
in this specification:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>An XSLT processor based on an XML parser that acts <span data-x="xml parser">as described
in this specification</span> needs to act as if <code>template</code> elements contain as
descendants their <span>template contents</span> for the purposes of the transform.</p></li>

<li><p>An XSLT processor that outputs a DOM needs to ensure that nodes that would go into a
<code>template</code> element are instead placed into the element's <span>template
contents</span>.</p></li>

<li><p>XPath evaluation using the XPath DOM API when applied to a <code>Document</code> parsed
using the <span>HTML parser</span> or the <span>XML parser</span> described in this specification
needs to ignore <span>template contents</span>.</p>
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -155780,12 +155673,6 @@ INSERT INTERFACES HERE

<dt id="refsXPATH10">[XPATH10]</dt>
<dd><cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xpath-19991116/">XML Path Language (XPath) Version 1.0</a></cite>, J. Clark, S. DeRose. W3C.</dd>

<dt id="refsXSLT10">[XSLT10]</dt>
<dd>(Non-normative) <cite><a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xslt-19991116">XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 1.0</a></cite>, J. Clark. W3C.</dd>

<dt id="refsXSLTP">[XSLTP]</dt>
<dd>(Non-normative) <cite><a href="https://wiki.whatwg.org/wiki/DOM_XSLTProcessor">DOM XSLTProcessor</a></cite>, WHATWG Wiki. WHATWG.</dd>
</dl>


Expand Down