[WEB4LIB] As if lousy HTML editors weren't bad enough...

[Darryl Friesen]

-----Original Message-----
From: Roy Tennant <rtennant at library.berkeley.edu>
Subject: [WEB4LIB] As if lousy HTML editors weren't bad enough...


>"Although HTML purists (and validation programs) may object, most
>Web browsers can correctly interpret pages without some elements,
>such as quote marks around tag attributes (like <IMAGE
>HEIGHT="50">) and tags added by some HTML editors (like
><NATURALSIZEFLAG>)." - Jeff Carlson <jeffc at tidbits.com>
>
>One program will even remove such "superfluous" closing tags as </HEAD>
>and </HTML>. Thanks. I could use the help.


It is cases like this that makes me believe there should be Internet Police.
Let free speech and objectionable content run rampant, but this sort of
blatant disregard for basic (Internet) law needs to be stopped.  Perhaps
instead of Internet Police we need an Internet Mafia (maybe a new branch of
the W3C, lead by Thomas Dowling) that would send Guido over to see the people
responsible for these programs, with a copy of the HTML spec in one hand, and
a large blunt instrument in the other.

Ok, perhaps that's a bit harsh, but I can't fathom any self-respecting
programmer who claims to know _anything_ about the Internet, _purposefully_
writing a program that would do such a horrific thing to an HTML document, and
pass it off as a good thing.

I'm waiting to see Thomas' response.  Should be interesting...


- Darryl

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   Darryl Friesen, B.Sc., Programmer/Analyst    Darryl.Friesen at usask.ca
   Consulting & Development                     http://gollum.usask.ca/
   Department of Computing Services                 163 Murray Building
   University of Saskatchewan                              Main Library
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