My OperaHTML to drop version numbers: did Neil overreact?
Friday, January 28, 2011 8:37:47 PM
Today I read the post by Internets highly respected author Neil McAllister where he responded to WHATWGs plans to drop HTML version numbers. You can read the whole article here.
He claims that dropping HTML version numbers will cause troubles for web application authors. Cite: "Once they do, their customers will end up with a browser that supports some form of HTML as it was specified at some point in time. Without so much as a version number to go by, it will be virtually impossible for the customer to understand -- or even express -- just what form of HTML that actually is."
Why would anyone care? It's not the standard version that matters, but separate features! And it's a common practice to check for the presence of the feature rather than supported HTML version. New HTML spec comes out once in few years, but separate features may show up any time. Why not start supporting it before its done? Lots of HTML5 features are already being used and users benefit a lot from those.
My suggestion is to complete separate feature standards and rely on that, rather than a whole pack of them.
He claims that dropping HTML version numbers will cause troubles for web application authors. Cite: "Once they do, their customers will end up with a browser that supports some form of HTML as it was specified at some point in time. Without so much as a version number to go by, it will be virtually impossible for the customer to understand -- or even express -- just what form of HTML that actually is."
Why would anyone care? It's not the standard version that matters, but separate features! And it's a common practice to check for the presence of the feature rather than supported HTML version. New HTML spec comes out once in few years, but separate features may show up any time. Why not start supporting it before its done? Lots of HTML5 features are already being used and users benefit a lot from those.
My suggestion is to complete separate feature standards and rely on that, rather than a whole pack of them.
