Re: [whatwg] HTML5: compatible with all legacy Web browsers
On Thu, 6 Aug 2009, Elliotte Rusty Harold wrote: Section 1.7: The first such concrete syntax is HTML5. This is the format recommended for most authors. It is compatible with all legacy Web browsers. I challenge the claim that HTML5 is compatible with *all* legacy Web browsers. I can produce valid HTML 4 documents today that are not compatible with *all* legacy Web browsers. I suggest this be weakened to something like is compatible with most Web browsers still in active use today. Changed all to most. On Fri, 7 Aug 2009, Simon Pieters wrote: I guess the following is an example of a valid HTML5 document that is incompatible with legacy Web browsers: !doctype html title/title svgscript//svg pHello world/p It's certainly possible to use the language in a way that is incompatible with legacy UAs. On Fri, 7 Aug 2009, Aryeh Gregor wrote: I think the meaning of compatible with all existing browsers here is that HTML 5 does not *require* authors to break compatibility with any existing browser. Exactly. Clearer wording might be like, HTML5 pages can be written to be compatible with all legacy Web browsers. Of course, all legacy Web browsers does need to be construed to exclude Netscape Navigator 3 and such. If you really want to be picky, it could be all legacy Web browsers that still see significant use. I think just saying the language is compatible is probably clear enough. On Fri, 7 Aug 2009, Erik Vorhes wrote: I agree completely with your interpretation of the phrase. HTML5 is intended to enhance the web without breaking it, so noting (or even emphasizing) how it's backwards-compatible is important and useful. But the phrase should be clarified along similar lines to what you've articulated. Maybe: HTML5 can be written in such a way that it is compatible with all browsers made after X date? I don't think most people reading this are really going to be confused either way on this. -- Ian Hickson U+1047E)\._.,--,'``.fL http://ln.hixie.ch/ U+263A/, _.. \ _\ ;`._ ,. Things that are impossible just take longer. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'
Re: [whatwg] HTML5: compatible with all legacy Web browsers
On Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:49:45 +0200, Elliotte Rusty Harold elh...@ibiblio.org wrote: Section 1.7: The first such concrete syntax is HTML5. This is the format recommended for most authors. It is compatible with all legacy Web browsers. I challenge the claim that HTML5 is compatible with *all* legacy Web browsers. I guess it depends on the definition of compatible. I can produce valid HTML 4 documents today that are not compatible with *all* legacy Web browsers. That's irrelevant. Can you produce valid HTML5 documents today that are not compatible with all legacy Web browsers? I guess the following is an example of a valid HTML5 document that is incompatible with legacy Web browsers: !doctype html title/title svgscript//svg pHello world/p I suggest this be weakened to something like is compatible with most Web browsers still in active use today. What is it that is not compatible with which browser? -- Simon Pieters Opera Software
Re: [whatwg] HTML5: compatible with all legacy Web browsers
On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 5:39 AM, Simon Pieterssim...@opera.com wrote: What is it that is not compatible with which browser? Any use of legend outside of a fieldset is broken in every modern browser: IE6-8, Firefox 3-3.5, Safari 3-4, and Opera 9-10b all break in interesting ways. For more details, see Remy Sharp's Legend not such a legend anymore http://html5doctor.com/legend-not-such-a-legend-anymore/. Erik
Re: [whatwg] HTML5: compatible with all legacy Web browsers
I think the meaning of compatible with all existing browsers here is that HTML 5 does not *require* authors to break compatibility with any existing browser. Obviously some new features of HTML 5 will not work in some existing browsers -- otherwise there could be no new features in the spec! But it's designed to support graceful degradation wherever possible, so that authors can use many of the new features without breaking compatibility with any existing browser. This is in contrast to its erstwhile competitor XHTML 2 -- XHTML 2 cannot be used in any legacy browsers, ever. Clearer wording might be like, HTML5 pages can be written to be compatible with all legacy Web browsers. Of course, all legacy Web browsers does need to be construed to exclude Netscape Navigator 3 and such. If you really want to be picky, it could be all legacy Web browsers that still see significant use.
Re: [whatwg] HTML5: compatible with all legacy Web browsers
On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 8:28 AM, Aryeh Gregorsimetrical+...@gmail.com wrote: I think the meaning of compatible with all existing browsers here is that HTML 5 does not *require* authors to break compatibility with any existing browser. I agree completely with your interpretation of the phrase. HTML5 is intended to enhance the web without breaking it, so noting (or even emphasizing) how it's backwards-compatible is important and useful. But the phrase should be clarified along similar lines to what you've articulated. Maybe: HTML5 can be written in such a way that it is compatible with all browsers made after X date? Erik
