Is there a spec that the id of elements should be made global variable?

Question

If I have a

in Chrome then in javascript I can do a.stuff() (it\'s like as if a is a global variable).

Answer 1

Technically, this question is opinion, but it's a good question.

IE does this as well and it has caused headaches for some.

The rules for naming variables in JavaScript and IDs in HTML are different. I can't see how this is a good thing.

For instance, on this page there is an element with an ID of "notify-container". That's not a valid JavaScript name at all.

Also, when are these names bound? If an inline script declares a variable and then the element appears later, which has precedence?

It's cannot be made consistent.