Possible reason for link ref
vs style
:
link
can only go on the head
, where "Metadata content" is allowed, typically head
,
style
could not go in the body
before HTML5 (now you can with scoped
, but still not to external styles). Therefore, the choice between link ref
and style src
is arbitrary.
script
, however, could already include an external script in the body
before HTML5, so there had to be script src
. But since it had to exist, why not allow it in the head
as well (where script
was already allowed), and disallow link rel=script
to avoid duplication?
Apparently Tim Berners-Lee wanted everything to be done with <a
: https://youtu.be/3QEoJRjxnxQ?t=901 !