Teaching document conformance despite forgiving parsers [was: Re: code, samp, kbd, var]

On 5/15/07, Tina Holmboe <tina@greytower.net> wrote:

>   Adding presentational elements and marking them as
>   "conforming but not advisable" will create a teacher's nightmare: how
>   to explain that something IS a standard but shouldn't be used?

Could you model it on the way driver's ed teachers discuss traffic safety?

You don't need to use seatbelts and airbags unless there is a
collision.  If everyone does everything right, there won't be any
collisions.  Wear the seatbelt anyhow.

The speed limit is X.  Roads and cars are designed to handle crashes
at X+Y.  If you drive X+Y, you might still be safe, but you can lose
your license anyway.

-jJ