HTML Elitism

I was doing a search for ISO HTML (since Dave Carter seems so into it), and
guess what I found:

>To: Abigail <abigail@fnx.com>
>       Subject: Re: ISO and HTML
>       From: Dave Carter <dxc@ast.cam.ac.uk>
>       Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 09:09:57 +0100 (BST)
>       cc: jkorpela@cc.hut.fi, papresco@calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca,
>www-html@w3.org
>       From www-html-request@www10.w3.org Mon Apr 14 04: 10:08 1997
[snip]

>On Sun, 13 Apr 1997, Abigail wrote:

[snip]

>> I don't see the point in making an ISO standard (or any standard) which
>> has major features which aren't supported by any non-experimental
>> browser. All the major browsers ignore the specifications anyway, 99%
>> of the users doesn't care, and 99% of the authors prefer catering to
>> browsers than to specs.
>
>Thats horribly defeatist. I would rather believe that 99% of users and
>99% of browsers are irrelevant, if they prefer things that way then they
>have nothing to say to me nor I to them. The 1% are those who matter.
>
>Dave Carter

While I admire your resolve, Dave, I can't help noticing this is sort of
like designing the perfect car that's unlike all the others, building your
own perfect highway that's better than all the others, and then driving
absolutely nowhere.  One of the most important aspect of the web is being
able to reach as many people as possible--otherwise, why not just use a
proprietary platform and file format?

If you feel that a warped sense of HTML ethics is more important than
sharing information with others--well then, I don't think the W3C will ever
supply what you want.

--------------------------------------------------------
[                    Jordan Reiter                     ]
[            mailto:jreiter@mail.slc.edu               ]
[       Just smile and nod and say, "Yes, Jordan."     ]
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Received on Wednesday, 10 September 1997 16:43:20 UTC