[whatwg] The problems with namespaces in text/html

Sat Nov 4 03:45:38 PST 2006

Elliotte Harold wrote:
> Ian Hickson wrote:
>>>> Some pages even have completely bogus namespaces on the root <html> 
>>>> element, which would make the entire page screw up. 
> 
> Let the page screw up. The author will notice it and fix it. That's like 
> saying some people mistype table as tabel and therefore we shoudl accept 
> both spellings.

No, that's not how it works in the real world.  The users and/or author 
will find that the site no longer works, even though it used to.  They 
will then complain to the browser vendor, who will politely refuse to do 
anything about it.  The user and author will then switch back to the old 
version, which does work, or switch to a new browser.  The browser 
vendor will realise what a terrible mistake they've made and revert back 
to their old behaviour.

-- 
Lachlan Hunt
http://lachy.id.au/