[whatwg] Using the HTML5 DOCTYPE as a new quirksmode switch

Wed Mar 7 16:08:09 PST 2007

On Wed, 07 Mar 2007 21:47:34 +0100, Asbjørn Ulsberg  
<asbjorn at tigerstaden.no> wrote:

> I'm not sure if it has been discussed earlier, but after seeing Chris
> Wilson's talk on «Browser Wars Episode II: Attack of the DOMs»[1] I think
> it's pretty obvious that Internet Explorer needs a new switch of some
> sort, to be allowed to implement and fix the DOM, JavaScript, CSS1-3 etc.
> without breaking backward compatibility. At least that's what Chris  
> Wilson
> says.
>
> And I agree. Internet Explorer needs a new switch. So I thought, what
> about using:
>
>     <!DOCTYPE html>
>
> as the new switch?

This is a plain simple yet brilliant idea.

Other browsers can also use <!DOCTYPE html> as an indication to stop  
applying certain hacks which make them diverge from standards in favor of  
interoperability with IE.

-- 
Alexey Feldgendler <alexey at feldgendler.ru>
[ICQ: 115226275] http://feldgendler.livejournal.com