Hi folks,
As many of you may have seen, there's been a published list of
planned CSS fixes in IE7. If you haven't seen it, here you go:
<http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/07/29/445242.aspx>. Note that
it's a huge page, 113KB just in the HTML file, since it has a few
metric tons of comments on it.
At this stage, it's quite natural to speculate about what this
will or won't mean for CSS authoring; some of that has happened
already. I'd like to put a hand on the rudder of discussion, though,
and steer it to what I think would be more productive waters.
First off: please do NOT engage in debates about what the next
beta or final versions of IE7 will or won't do. Nobody knows-- not
even the IE7 developers can say for sure, as anyone who's ever worked
on a software project can attest. There are plans, and then there is
shipped code. When the two meet, it's a happy land. More often,
they do not. So let's leave off speculation about which hacks are
going to be neutered, and which aren't, and whether that's a good
thing or a bad thing. When the change comes, it will be documented
and we can deal with it then. Before that time, speculative arguing
is largely a waste of time.
This is not to say that we can't do some constructive planning,
though. I think one things that seems fairly clear is that there
will be changes in IE7, and there will probably be changes that break
some old hacks.
So a good line of discussion would be ways to avoid having to use
hacks. The wiki page on this topic
<http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=AvoidingHacks> is a good start,
but there may be more. If so, it would be good to hear about them.
Another good discussion would be on hack management-- what are
some good ways to organize style sheets so that hacks are easy to
maintain? A good starting point might be for people who have
strategies to post them with a list of pros and cons, or else work on
a wiki page about hack management that lists various approaches. And
by management, I also mean ways to structure style sheets. Maybe all
the hacks are in a separate file, or maybe they're grouped together,
or maybe they appear right next to the thing they're hacking around.
Maybe conditional comments are used to expose the hacks to IE. Let's
get some ideas from people, and create a resource around what they
share.
What I do NOT want to see is a war about whether hacks are good or
bad, about whether they should or shouldn't be used. People are
going to use hacks. We're all better served by helping them use them
to the minimum degree necessary, and in the most manageable way
possible. That will help us all get prepared to deal with the
changes in the final version of IE7... whatever they are, and
whenever they come.
Thanks for your attention and understanding, folks. I know that
when the 800-pound gorilla starts stirring after so long a snooze, we
all start to get tense and try to anticipate what it will do next.
Instead, let us follow the lessons of the great masters: wait calmly
and patiently, not hoping that something will happen, but simply
watching to see what does happen. While we wait, we can prepare
ourselves mentally by getting our hack houses in order. Then, when
it is time, we can flow with events and take command of them.
I'm suddenly seized with an urge to go watch "Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon" again.
--
Eric A. Meyer ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Principal, Complex Spiral Consulting http://complexspiral.com/
"CSS: The Definitive Guide," "CSS2.0 Programmer's Reference,"
"Eric Meyer on CSS," and more http://meyerweb.com/eric/books/
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