[WEB4LIB] Re: Cache problem? but where?

[Thomas Dowling]

At 10:09 AM 4/29/2002, D. Keith Higgs wrote:
>I have to agree with you Jeremy.  More and more browsers are becoming
>sticklers for well formed HTML.  Failure to close a block element
>(table, form, div, p, etc...) forces the browser to make certain very
>unreliable assumtions about where to insert the appropriate closing tag.
>
>If your not closing your block elements properly it doesn't matter which
>browser your clients are using, you are at fault. If you are using a
>WYSIWYG editor that commits this attrocity you should replace it
>immediately.  If your editor, whatever it is does not properly close
>paragraphs (<p>Yadda yadda.</p>) you should be shopping now for one that
>does.


Part of the problem lies in the definition of "properly."  XHTML, in its 
wisdom, simply requires closing tags for everything.  HTML has complicated 
rules dictating which elements require closing (or opening) tags, and which 
leave it optional.  Browsers which make any claim to support standard HTML 
have to know which elements have optional closing tags, and what other 
opening tags imply the end of any open element.

Netscape, pre-6.x, was justifiably lambasted for its chronic inability to 
handle tables with TR, TH, or TD elements whose optional closing tags are 
left out.



Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu