Re: HTML 5 ...

In response to by Barry Kintner’s email, “HTML 5 ...”
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-comments/2011Oct/0002.html


Dear Barry,

I think that what you are getting at is for the W3C not to “forget” (for lack of a better word!) older (legacy) front-end web design methods – i.e. using the TABLE element for page layouts, FONT elements, etc, etc.

I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Although this is only my interpretation of things (I am a mere contributor to these mailing lists; my word is not authoritative), I am sure most people would agree with me on these two points:

1. The W3C make *recommendations* – they do not “control” what the methods the browser companies can or cannot use to render pages. So, if for example, the W3C say that “the FONT element is *not* be used” (or “deprecated” in W3C-speak), whether developers and browser-vendors listen is another thing.

2. Browser vendors normally try to ensure that when they release a new version, they do not “break” web pages designed prior to this. This is known as backwards compatibility. So the chances of say, Mozilla, Microsoft et. al, suddenly dropping support for the so-called deprecated features is virtually non-existent (well, at least not for a very long time!)

I hope that this clears up some of your concerns!

Jordan Clark
Swansea, United Kingdom

http://www.jdclark.org/
mail@jdclark.org

Received on Saturday, 22 October 2011 14:27:57 UTC