[whatwg] several messages about XML syntax and HTML5

[Sander Tekelenburg]

At 17:05 +0200 UTC, on 2006-12-08, Rimantas Liubertas wrote:

>> [...]undermine this entire effort by getting people to use authoring tools
>>that on
>> purpose contain errors that result in 'good' looking pages in Explorer, and
>> 'bad' in HTML5 browsers.
>
> And how do you imagine Microsoft will get people to use those evil tools?

{shrug} The same way they got them to use other such tools today. Frontpage,
Outlook, Explorer, Word, etc. all frustrate interoperability.

> By pointing a loaded gun to one's head?

It doesn't require guns to get people to do most things. Much easier, cheaper
and effective to just make them feel good.

> IE7's team have expressed their will to improve web standards support in
> their product.

We'll have to see to what extend that will be put in practice. Anyway, as I
said, my point was not about Microsoft specifically (nor did I introduce the
mostly abused word "evil"), but 'parties that have the power to do such
things'. Microsoft is just the most obvious example of such a party today.

> And to not forget, IE7 was released mostly because of the rise of Firefox and
> other alternatives. Their share is going up, not down, so even if MS had some
> evil intentions it is already to late:

It wasn't too late for Microsoft when Netscape owned 95% of the market. It
wasn't too late for Google to take over the market when Alta Vista was the
main search engine.

> no sane developer would use a tool which
> produces broken result in 20+% of the browsers.

Have you looked at the Web lately? Whether it is due to insanity or not, the
reality is that some 95% of Web pages has accessiblity problems. *Many* Web
sites still genrate problems when accessed with Safari, Mozilla/Firefox,
Opera, iCab, lynx, IE pre-6, braille and speech browsers, mobile browsers,
spiders, etc. (Especially if you consider more than just HTML. Think of
things like javascript-dependancy, Flash-dependancy, WindowsMedia-depencency,
and even CSS-dependancy.)


-- 
Sander Tekelenburg
The Web Repair Initiative: <http://webrepair.org/>