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Re[2]: Books - what are the best references for HTML?
Subject:Re[2]: Books - what are the best references for HTML? From:"Walker, Arlen P" <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 16 Jul 1998 16:31:19 -0500
Like the 3.2 standard (and unlike the lamented HTML 3.0), HTML 4.0 was
designed to reflect the "state of the art" of supported elements.
No, it isn't. As I recall, when 3.2 was approved, there wasn't a single
browser that fully supported it. As for 4.0, well, anyone know a browser
that uses <THEAD> properly?
The process, as with everything else on the 'net, is a bit chaotic. Some
features begin with a browser vendor, some features begin with customers of
those browser vendors. They get kicked around by all concerned until those
participating in the process come to a rough consensus on what the feature
is, how it should work and how it should be implemented.
Along the way, ideas flow from the draft proposals into the browsers.
Sometimes the vendors implement the draft standard before it gets approved;
sometimes it's long after it gets approved. Some features of the standard
never see a browser until late in the process. (See for example "Link;"
it's been in the HTML standard for a long time -- first time I ran across
it was in the HTML+ spec back around '92 -- but was not implemented
reliably until recently, if at all.)
Oh, and the separation of CSS1 and HTML, while syntactically defensible, is
a distinction without a difference, as HTML 4.0 *requires* stylesheet
support.
But Microsoft and Netscape are probably the two most influential
members of the W3C, and the 4.0 standard reflects that fact.
Welllll......in once sense of the word, I'll agree with you, but in another
sense, they aren't. In terms of the process, they have very little
influence; everyone votes equally. What influence they do have comes from
the fact they write two of the most popular browsers, so the members of the
W3C have a lot of experience with the extensions they create. This
experience is, however, a two-edged sword, as witness the fate of BLINK.
Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224
Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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In God we trust; all others must provide data.
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Opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.
If JCI had an opinion on this, they'd hire someone else to deliver it.
