Re: xhtml browser

On Tue, 10 Dec 2002, Karl Ove Hufthammer wrote:
>>> 
>>> Is there any web browser support xhtml?
>>
>> Yes, Mozilla.
> 
> No, Mozilla has at best buggy and partial support for XHTML.

Absolutely, just like it has at best buggy and partial support of CSS, of
XML, of HTML4, of the DOM, of MathML, and of pretty much any other
alphabet soup it has made any attempt to implement.

That doesn't mean it isn't a Web browser that supports XHTML.

I don't know of any implementations of any of those standards that could
claim to be both complete and bug-free, anyway, least of all XHTML.


> And there are no plans for proper XHTML support in Mozilla either, cf.

There are no plans for Mozilla to support CSS, XML, HTML4, DOM, or any
number of other technologies, largely because Mozilla's layout engine is
mainly built by volunteers who do what they want and are not paid to work
on specific tasks.

However the reality is that many of our contributors consider XHTML
support an important area for us to improve on.


> And about some rules in XHTML specification:
> 
>         [...] The point is, we're not an XHTML user agent. We're
>         an XML+CSS user agent that happens to have some knowledge
>         about the XHTML namespace. So those rules don't apply to
>         us.

That is quoted way out of context. The remark was made after it was
pointed out that XHTML 1.0 makes ridiculous statements in its conformance
requirements section that _cannot_ be met by compliant XML+DOM+CSS UAs.
Since Mozilla is a priori a generic XML Web browser, rather than
specifically an XHTML Web browser, we cannot in good faith attempt to
comply to those rules.

Given that we cannot comply to XHTML's conformance criteria, we cannot
claim to be an XHTML UA. Hence my comment: we're not an XHTML user agent.
We're an XML+CSS user agent that happens to have some knowledge about the
XHTML namespace. Quite extensive knowledge, in fact.

For more information on the problematic conformance criteria, see:
   http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-talk/2001MayJun/0141.html

-- 
Ian Hickson                                      )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
"meow"                                          /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
http://index.hixie.ch/                         `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

Received on Tuesday, 10 December 2002 05:52:26 UTC