RE: CSS is doomed (10 years per version ?!?)

Ian,

You're quite mistaken.  HTML introduced explicit versioning as of HTML 4.
See section 7.2 "HTML version information" in the HTML 4.01 specification.
[1]

Versioning was included in the specification precisely because quirks mode
was unmanageable.

It's actually inevitable that explicit versioning will be added to any
system given enough releases and any meaningful user base. [2]

In a very similar way, Intel resisted versioning their CPU's for years.
What sprang up was an ad hoc, convoluted routine used to identify the
various x86 versions and steppings based on specific quirks. [3]

This CPU sniffing algorithm grew and the legacy quirks were supported by
every new CPU model until Intel decided it was far simpler to create an
explicit CPUID instruction.

-MM


[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/global.html#h-7.2
[2] CSS may never need explicit versioning if it continues to hold down the
number of releases, or its user base eventually shrinks.  ;o)
[3] http://grafi.ii.pw.edu.pl/gbm/x86/x86id.html




> -----Original Message-----
> From: www-style-request@w3.org [mailto:www-style-request@w3.org] On Behalf
> Of Ian Hickson
> Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2005 4:16 PM
> To: Orion Adrian
> Cc: www-style@w3.org
> Subject: Re: CSS is doomed (10 years per version ?!?)
> 
> 
[snip]
> 
> The only "versioning" in HTML is quirks mode vs standards mode vs XHTML
> mode, which actually is more about CSS rendering modes than HTML, and
> which has been a royal pain in the ass in pretty much all respects
> (although yet still better than the alternative, but that's another
> story).
> 
[snip]

Received on Sunday, 3 July 2005 03:12:47 UTC