[Wsuug] Of Browsers and Compatibility

[Christopher Jones]

 From a pactical business stance, there is no way MS and Mozilla and Opera
and Webkit will ever use the same engine, though I do believe we are quickly
coming to a time where they will all be compliant enough with the standards
that if you want to create strictly by the standards without proprietary
code, you will be able to. To me, that is close enough to the same thing as
it covers the practical needs of our profession. But that is looking to the
future of web development.

The idea put forth in the alistapart article is not about the future, but
about the past. The question is not so much, "what do we do with new
websites?", but "what do we do with old websites?" A standards based engine
will break any site created specifically for a non-standards based engine.
Breaking the web is a non-starter for any company serious about staying in
business. MS is trying to preserve a past which was built with a foundation
of sand while still allowing new constructions to be built properly.

~ Christopher

On 1/31/08, Jason Wilson <jason at jasonwilsondesign.com> wrote:
>
> Hello all,
>
> After reading through the latest issue of A List Apart (http://
> www.alistapart.com/articles/) I was left bashing my head against the
> wall. The articles give two different proposed solutions for an issue
> I feel we will face more and more in the coming years.
>
> What happens to old content, bad content etc. as the web moves
> forwards down standards lane (that's my oversimplified view of what
> the question)?
>
> I'll let you read the articles before discussing my proposed
> solution… … …
>
> Done? Good. It seems most of the problem is dealing with how the
> browsers render engine recognises content. To me the simplest answer
> is, if you want standard rendering, you need a standard rendering
> engine!
>
> Your first thought may be, wouldn't that remove competition? Maybe
> years ago but today very few of us who choose browsers choose them
> based on the rendering engine involved. If Firefox and Internet
> Explorer were using the same rendering engine they would still be two
> separate products with their own attractive features. Just like a
> Honda car and a Ford car are still separate cars if they use the same
> tires. The problem we're having is that proprietary browsers are
> using proprietary tires designed to drive on a different
> interpretation of what a road is. It's madness in my opinion. When I
> go and design a road (website) I shouldn't have to consider adapting
> the road for each car builders ideal of a tire.
>
> I think there really should be a push for a standards based, standard
> issue, browser engine.
>
> What do you all think?
>
> Jason _______________________________________________
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