Re: Conformance requirements on browsers

On Fri, 13 Sep 2013 15:29:12 +0400, Simon Pieters <simonp@opera.com> wrote:

> On Fri, 13 Sep 2013 10:57:05 +0200, Jukka K. Korpela

>> It sounds illogical that a browser is not allowed to support <bgsound>  
>> but is allowed to support <backgroundsound>.
>
> So a bit more context:
[...]
> So new elements should not be created, you're right that that means that  
> there can exist situations in which it is conforming for a UA to do so  
> anyway. The other requirement is that such extensions should be named as  
> "x-vendor-feature", but again there can exist situations in which it is  
> conforming for a UA to use a different naming.
>
> This suggests that both "bgsound" and "backgroundsound" *could* be  
> vendor-specific extensions, and can be conforming if the UA vendor has  
> valid reasons and has carefully considered the implications before  
> implementing it. However, if a particular browser has just kept an old  
> element around since the dawn of time (or at least since before this  
> requirement existed in the spec), it's hard to argue that they comply  
> with these "should" and "should not".

What's wrong with "there is content using this, so we support it for  
backward compatibility" as an argument? Whether it makes sense in a given  
case is about judgement, but prima facie it seems like a rational  
explanation for not following the "should" statements' recommendations.

Paving cowpaths and solving real problems and all that.

In any event, it seems that the statements that "everything not permitted  
is forbidden" don't seem to reflect what the actual document has said for  
the last seven years. I'm not sure this discussion has been very  
productive, beyond clarifying that :(

just my две копейки

Chaals

-- 
Charles McCathie Nevile - Consultant (web standards) CTO Office, Yandex
       chaals@yandex-team.ru         Find more at http://yandex.com

Received on Friday, 13 September 2013 13:11:54 UTC