> I understand this whole debate on escaping ampersands but > it's almost too late to even worry about them. ?a=1&b=2 has > been in use way before I got into programming. Now that it's > in such wide use, this standard should be reversed. & should > be reconsidered for xml and not the other way around.
That's simply not going to happen. The ampersand is the character used to mark the start of an entity. Changing this would require changing every XML parser in existence. Like the one in your cell phone. Do you want to buy a new cell phone to fix this problem? > I also understand that XML was here before the Internet, it > just never caught on until 20+ years later. Not my fault but > in the world of the Internet it does make things a real pain > in the ass. And since the Internet is bigger then XML, its > the one who should part ways with Ampersands!!! So you should > make use of ";" in place of "&" in your URLs??? Not that I > care but, from an SEO standpoint who has any proof this holds > up? I don't. I know putting & in my URLs works, while not the > best, having variables in your URLs in this manor, it does work. I don't think you have to worry about it. While your XHTML documents will fail validation, there's nothing stopping you from using standalone ampersands in those documents. The only reason I brought up the thing in the first place was simply to point out what the standards say. And of course, for the sake of accuracy, XML didn't predate the internet. But a lot of the rules and concepts used in XML, and HTML, are derived from SGML, which has been around for a while. Finally, I would expect characters other than ampersands to work as well as, or better than, ampersands themselves for SEO purposes, since identifiable dynamic URL elements have historically been considered negatively. Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software http://www.figleaf.com/ Fig Leaf Software provides the highest caliber vendor-authorized instruction at our training centers in Washington DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, or on-site at your location. Visit http://training.figleaf.com/ for more information! This email has been processed by SmoothZap - www.smoothwall.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Create robust enterprise, web RIAs. Upgrade & integrate Adobe Coldfusion MX7 with Flex 2 http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=RVJP Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:275671 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4
