[whatwg] Suggestion: Web-IE6 Specification

[Space Dog]

    Web Forms 2.0 and other standards currently being developed by WHAT 
WG are based on the idea of backwards compatibility with Internet 
Explorer 6.0. (If I'm in error about this, please let me know.) 
Therefore, in order to create specifications to this end, we need to 
know exactly what IE does and does not support. However, I don't believe 
there is a single, official page on the Internet that contains all 
necessary information on just what standards Internet Explorer supports.

    For this reason, I propose the a specification called "Web Standards 
in Internet Explorer 6.0", or Web-IE6 for short. This specification 
would be defined in the following manner:

1) The spec would contain information on what portions of WHAT WG specs 
and W3C recommendations are supported in IE.

2) This would not include anything from W3C below a recommendation, but 
when a specification becomes a recommendation, the Web-IE6 spec would be 
updated accordingly.

3) The spec would define how IE 6.0 deviates from specifications for the 
elements/attributes/events/etc. it does support.

3) This would not include proprietary Microsoft extensions to W3C 
recommendations, except where those extensions exist in WHAT WG 
specifications.

4) This would not include work arounds that give IE functionality 
similar to what is specified in W3C recommendations and WHAT WG 
specifications.

    In a nutshell, Web-IE6 would define a subset of W3C and WHAT WG 
standards that are supported in Internet Explorer 6.0. This would have 
the following benefits:

* Webmasters could design use this specification to create 
standards-compliant web pages and web applications that display and 
operate properly or reasonably in Internet Explorer.

* Specification writer would benefit from having a clearer picture of 
how IE would behave when displaying web pages that utilize their specs.

* Browser developers would be able to use the specification to ensure 
standards compliance that would meet or exceed that of IE.

    End of line.