Re: Using htlm editors to produce clean code?

Continuing the thred below...
There is an essential dichotomy between those who want to learn how to 
understand and create HTML the best way possible, and those who want to 
write pages without learning anything more than necessary. My preference 
is to teach people how to do the stuff in the first place, rather than 
teaching them how to use a second-rate tool when they can do a first-rate 
job. One of the glories of HTML, after all, is that it does not take a 
degree to become an expert - the average mug can understand it in a few 
days, to the point of being able to understand the issues like 
accessibility and universal design which are very difficult for a 
FrontPage user, since they do not have any understanding of the coding in 
which many of the arguments must be based.

The REAL problems to overcome with HTML is the fear of learning a new 
language, and the 'everything can be done with a point and click, and you 
can have a whizz-bang, bells and whistles and animation and multimedia 
edge to sell your product on the internet to the whole world' 
understanding of the web which is peddled in 30-second advertisements on 
TV. If we are not prepared to put some effort into doing things right we 
cannot expect the results to be worth having.

The short answer to the question at the end of the thread is 'many 
programmers can tell you. Just add a line of code, recompile, and away 
you go... 

Charles McCathieNevile


> Alan J. Flavell wrote:
> > impelled to comment. ... [much opinon snipped] ... much effort is 
> > being spent (I may say wasted)  on trying to bolt-on additional 
> > accessibility to these misconceived web documents, when, if the 
> > originals had been designed in accordance with the principles and 
> > practices of the original WWW concept, no repair would have been 
> > necessary ...
> >
On Sat, 16 May 1998, LBehrens replied:
> 
> Most unbiased observers of the Web would probably agree that the
> original WWW concept was that everyone (unskilled individuals included 
> if not in particular) have a venue and tools to publish globally 
> without being subjected to long periods of training.
(snip)> 
> What is needed is not for everyone exposed even temporarily to the
> internet to be goaded into becoming highly-skilled HTML authors; 
> rather we need to find temporary solutions for the problems inherent 
> in the present tools (which is exactly what the original poster
> requested).
> 
> Does anyone out there know a way to force the Composer segment of 
> Netscape Communicator to include a DOCTYPE declaration, as a step 
> toward validation and accessibility, as requested by the original
> poster?

Received on Saturday, 16 May 1998 23:10:03 UTC