RE: Don't require <Q>

Dear All,
Len and I had a short off-list conversation where I admitted that I was
being a little disingenuous with my browser count.  (And Len corrected
himself about AOLpress, apparently, being the only GUI browser that renders
<Q>..</Q> the right way.)
Still, I would argue that the window of opportunity for making a timely
amendment to Checkpoint 3.7 has passed.  I know that this argument comes up
every six months ors so, but I can't help myself!  Part of the point of
specifications is to give the browser vendors something to shoot for.  The
"until user agents" clause does nothing to promote this.  We also regular
debate when is "until" up?  Since the latest releases of the "big two" are
compliant on this particular issue, I have to argue that, at list with
regard to this particular point, we have arrived!  The formal WCAG 1.0 is
now twenty months old.  The first formal release of HTML 4 was more than
four years ago.  There is no excuse for the "popular" browsers being broken,
and we should not dilute our standard to make up for their behavior --
especially when they are (finally) fixing the problem.
By the way Len, can you name a specific site that gave up on Double-A
compliance because of the problem with quotes?
-- Bruce
> ----------
> From: 	Leonard R. Kasday
> Sent: 	Wednesday, January 17, 2001 10:32 AM
> To: 	Bailey, Bruce; 'Web Content Accessibility Guidelines'
> Cc: 	'Wendy A Chisholm'
> Subject: 	Re: Don't require <Q>
> 
> Bruce,
> 
> Yes, from what you say, if you count current browser brands  most do 
> something logical.
> 
> But if you count users, the vast majority still have software which omits 
> quotes (e.g. MSIE 5, NN 4.73).  So there' still a problem... just like you
> 
> pointed out two years ago.
> 
> BTW, AOLPress only does neutral quotes, not typographical right and left.
> 
> Len
> 
> 
> At 03:37 PM 1/16/01 -0500, Bailey, Bruce wrote:
> >The short of it is that MOST _modern_ browsers do something
> >logical with <Q>...</Q>
>

Received on Wednesday, 17 January 2001 14:36:56 UTC