Re: [css-device-adapt] Accepting semi-colons as a separator for meta-viewport

On Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 10:12 AM, Peter Beverloo <beverloo@google.com> wrote:
> The CSS Device Adapt specification defines a parsing algorithm[1] for
> the meta-element viewport content, which has been based on WebKit's
> implementation that shipped with iOS4. This algorithm only accepts
> commas as separators between properties.
>
> In reality, web authors are using both commas as semi-colons. A wide
> range of websites, including CNN[2], Flickr[3] and Reddit[4] depend on
> this behavior, which has led at least Mozilla and Microsoft to
> implement it and, in case of the latter, write about it[5].
>
> I think the specification should adapt to reflect what authors are
> doing. While it's unfortunate that the divergence between commas and
> semi-colons happened, it's important for compatibility among mobile
> browsers.
>
> Thanks,
> Peter
>
> [1] http://dev.w3.org/csswg/css-device-adapt/#parsing-algorithm
> [2] http://m.cnn.com
> [3] http://m.flickr.com
> [4] http://www.reddit.com/.compact (or http://m.reddit.com/)
> [5] http://blogs.msdn.com/b/iemobile/archive/2010/11/22/the-ie-mobile-viewport-on-windows-phone-7.aspx

Agreed that we should match current behavior, whatever it is.
Hopefully by getting a single correct description of the necessary
parsing algorithm we can get proper interop between everyone that
prevents it from drifting further.

~TJ

Received on Thursday, 20 October 2011 21:37:21 UTC