A 'nodownload' attribute for the code element?

[OeufMayo]

As I was answering a SOPW question this morning, I wrote some snippets of code that, if taken alone, would not compile. I also wrote the running piece of code on the node. But because I enclosed the snippets in <code> tags, the 'd/l code' button became useless for one to download only the working script.

I worked around the problem by putting the snippets in <tt> elements, but this element doesn't behave in the same way the <code> does.

So, I was thinking of adding an attribute ('nodownload="1"') to the <code> element, so that whenever this attribute is found, the 'd/l code' functionnality skip this element.

Example:

<code nodownload="1">
$x = $foo . $x;

</code>

<p>The code above isn't really useful by itself</p>

<code>
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
my $foo = 'foo';
my $x = 'bar';
$x = $foo . $x
print $x

</code>

Of course, on the drawback of such functionnality (except adding a line to the kilometer-long Perlmonks todo list) is that it breaks strict HTML compatibility.

<kbd>--
my $OeufMayo = new PerlMonger::Paris({http => 'paris.mongueurs.net'});</kbd>