Re: Design Principles

On Tue, 26 May 2009, Leif Halvard Silli wrote:
> 
> Another quote from the same page: "imperative that HTML be extended in a 
> backwards-compatible way".
> 
> So HTML 4 is winning. And HTML 5 has to be backwards-compatible.
> 
> It really sounds from this as if it is very important to be compatible 
> with HTML 4.

No, being backwards compatible with the HTML4 spec is worthless. It's 
being backwards compatible with legacy content and implementations that 
matters (and that has been a cornerstone of the HTML5 effort).


> It really sounds as if mentioning HTML 4 should have had close to high 
> weight. (Except that the air we are breathing is called HTML 4 so we 
> really should have something more unobvious to say.)
> 
> Perhaps you really meant that the DOM is winning? That "text/html" is 
> winning? However, that sounded so boring ...

Not sure what you mean. I meant that HTML has a high deployment rate today 
(in terms of user agents and content) compared to Flash and Silverlight, 
and that the HTML5 work is intended to continue this trend.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

Received on Tuesday, 26 May 2009 04:38:47 UTC