- From: Paul Prescod <papresco@technologist.com>
- Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 14:53:21 -0400
- To: cottier@fox.nstn.ca, www-html@w3.org
Francis Cottier wrote: > > HTML usage is rapidly degenerating into a real mess with browser > incompatibilities, interoperability and validation issues. HTML usage was always there. It is no worse today than it was two years ago. > THe driving > force seems to be towards presentation and appearance rather than > content. This is less the case today than it was two years ago. The W3C has successfully redirected the major focus towards stylesheets. > It is my understanding that the W3C does issue HTML standards (2.0, 3.0, > 3.2 & 4.0) specifically to address these issues but I don't understand > why they are ineffective. For instance : > > 1) Why do there seem to be two interpretations/implementations of 3.2 > (Wilbur & CSS1) ? HTML 3.2 and CSS1 are two different things. Look around http://www.w3.org for more information. > 2) Why do different HTML validators produce different results when > evaluating the same page against the same standard ? Some will flag things that are merely "good style" (according to the validator's author) but are not technically correct. Some are incomplete and only check the tag structure as defined in the DTD as opposed to the constraints that are expressed in the prose text of the standard. Poke around http://www.w3.org for more information. For more information about DTDs and HTML's SGML underpinnings go to http://www.sil.org/sgml > 3) Are the W3C standards written in such an ambiguous manner as to be > virtually useless ? All of the specs are publically available. You be the judge. Paul Prescod
Received on Tuesday, 19 August 1997 14:52:56 UTC