Re: MSIE 8 beta 1 clarification needed

On Thu, 13 Mar 2008, Lars Gunther wrote:
> 
> I would appreciate some kind of formal ruling on the subject IE8 B1. 
> Since I am in an argument with a few people on this subject 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Acid2#Ian_H_says_IE_still_does_not_pass_the_test) 
> and need a verifiable source, perhaps WaSP could provide its thoughts.

Sweet kittens, the people arguing against you in that wikipedia talk page 
need to get over themselves and take a walk outside.

For the benefit of people who don't believe I can typo my own name, yes, 
the comment on the IE blog was from me.

Furthermore, it is clearly the case from reading the specifications 
involved that <object> elements are either to render their contents, or 
their fallback. There is no room in the specifications for displaying a 
two-line-high white box in the test at that location.

Thus IE8 Beta 1 fails to process this URI according to the specifications:

   http://webstandards.org/files/acid2/test.html#top

IE8 Beta 1 does seem to process this URI according to the specifications:

   http://www.webstandards.org/files/acid2/test.html#top

Whether this means that it actually passes Acid2 or not is COMPLETELY 
IRRELEVANT. Arguing about whether it passes "the Acid2 test" is a waste of 
people's time and entirely misses the point of the test. The idea here is 
to get interoperability between browsers. Clearly, if a formulation of the 
test, or a variant on it, or indeed any other test at all, fails to be 
processed according to the specifications in some browsers, then we don't 
have interoperability, and therefore we have found a bug. That's what 
matters. That's what you should be focusing on.

Please spend your time doing something productive and useful to society 
instead of bickering over meaningless questions.

Finally, I strongly recommend that people use their own skills at 
interpreting the specifications instead of looking for what can only be 
described as pronouncements from oracles and statements from higher 
powers. Use your own judgement, use your brains, and stop assuming that 
what random people like me tell you is correct. Check your facts at the 
source (in this case the specs), instead of looking for people who have 
done the fact checking for you!


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

Received on Friday, 14 March 2008 04:00:30 UTC