Re: HTML 3.0

Boleslaw Mynarski wrote:
> Please don't take it the wrong way but I'm curious...  
> Why bother with HTML drafts when ultimately it will be
> the browser developers who decide what tags to use or not to?   
> Is there any browser out there that actually
> supports fully ANY HTML draft?

That questions could be rewritten as "Why bother making
standards, when everybody can choose not to use them, 
anyway?"

As with standards for light bulbs and power outlets, HTML
standards activity is aimed at providing interoperability
between different manufacturers. With a standard I can use
one component from one company, another component from
another company, and they will work together! In the case
of power cords, I can put a plug from any provider into
my receptacles at home - as long as I don't go abroad.

In the case of HTML, this is even more important, since
the WWW is all about interoperability amongst different
people all around the world. I want to be able to look at
any webpage with my personal favorite browser, not just
the ones written by people who have the same browser as 
I have.

If we don't try to keep HTML a standard, we will see
(actually, we are already seeing) different HTMLs from
different browser vendors. Pages written solely for
Netscape Navigator don't look as good in Microsoft
Internet Explorer and vice versa.

In a standards activity, we can also use the ideas from
people who don't work for a browser vendor - like you 
and me. I do also believe that an HTML developed as a
standard will be a better HTML than Netscape or Microsoft
could make for themselves. 

-- 
Carl Johan Berglund <f92-cbe@nada.kth.se> 
http://www.student.nada.kth.se/~f92-cbe

Received on Tuesday, 28 May 1996 03:24:50 UTC