Re: Proposition to change the prefixing policy

On Sat, 05 May 2012 15:13:51 +0200, Boris Zbarsky <bzbarsky@mit.edu> wrote:

> On 5/5/12 1:20 AM, Florian Rivoal wrote:
>> How do you think authors should use prefixes? Not at all in production
>> content?
>
> Yes.

I don't think this can work, nor that we should go that way

1) Can't work

Unless we want to pretend that the properties we are introducing don't
solve any problem, make possible things easier and impossible things
possible:


* If most browsers don't ship prefixed properties in production builds,
there is a huge competitive advantage to be gained for one browser to
break the rule, which would provide a very strong intensive to every
other browser to break it as well.

* Similarly, If most authors refrain from using prefixed properties,
there is a huge there is also a strong competitive advantage to be gained
for authors who do.

Taken together, these two mean that we are pretty much guaranteed to have
most/all browsers shipping experimental properties in production builds,
and most/all authors making use of them

2) Shouldn't do it:

Even if it could be made it work, it would still be a bad idea. The web
doesn't exist in a vacuum, and needs to compete with other things. If the
web technologies fall short of what people want to do with them, other
things will be used. Flash's success for many years is largely explained
by gaps in the w3c technological stack, and its recent fading out by
these same gaps being filled. Similarly, many things are made as apps
when they can't be made well enough as web sites.

Refraining from deploying and using work-in-progress w3c technologies
would strengthen the appeal of these closed alternatives, which
is in no way good for the web.

  - Florian

Received on Monday, 7 May 2012 09:17:59 UTC