On the cutting edge (fwd)

[Jon Knight]

On Fri, 15 Mar 1996, Elizabeth Richards wrote:
> I am very new to the world of developing web pages and was stunned 
> and dismayed to discover that there is a disagreement regarding 
> whether Netscape HTML codes for tables, etc. Should be used.  The 
> argument being that the codes have not been approved by the HTML 
> standards committe.  If you use them, you may discover in months that 
> your pages are not compatible with other browsers.  

Or even right now if you've got the right browser... :-)

> OTH if Netscape dominates the market then do these standards have any 
> force?  Or should we as responsible citizens simply use them to 
> encourage cooperation and discourage a capitalistic driven Internet?  

Well, the Netscape developers have said in the past that they're 
committed to implementing HTML 3.0 as soon as they can, so if you use HTML 
3.0 standard tags you should find that Netscape's browsers either work 
with them now or soon will.  Of course its not unknown for software 
companies to tell fibs and go back on promises...

I don't think I've seen or heard a similar statement from the Evil Empire 
aka Microsoft.  In fact the demos at their professional developers 
conference this week seemed to use every proprietry, non-standardised 
(unless you subscribe to the view that if Uncle Bill does it, its a 
standard of course) trick in the book.  Many of the demos also seemed to 
be angled towards how best (and easiest) to extra money out of your 
wallet for online shopping and made me glad I'm an X Mosaic user.

Tatty bye,

Jim'll

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jon "Jim'll" Knight, Researcher, Sysop and General Dogsbody, Dept. Computer
Studies, Loughborough University of Technology, Leics., ENGLAND.  LE11 3TU.
* I've found I now dream in Perl.  More worryingly, I enjoy those dreams. *