Both those examples are interesting, and underpin my hesitation to move to HTML5. In 2004 one of the largest London design agencies persuaded a corporate client that they could build a complex website using pure CSS layout. We did the compatibility testing (Netscape 6, IE6, Opera 6 etc) and it was disastrous. The site eventually launched months late, over budget and it still looked awful in some major browsers. It was years too early to try anything like that, and they could see that from the alpha test results but they ploughed on. Around the same time, everyone including us started to move to using XHTML. In recent years we all stopped because it was mostly pointless, especially since you cannot serve it with the correct MIME type. These days a lot of us have gone back to HTML4 Strict. Why did we use XHTML? Because it was cool and everyone else was doing so, not because there was any value in it. Steve
________________________________ From: li...@webstandardsgroup.org [mailto:li...@webstandardsgroup.org] On Behalf Of designer Sent: 27 January 2011 13:14 To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org Subject: Re: [WSG] HTML5 v. HTML 4.x I hear what you are saying Steve, but isn't that always the case? The HTML5 scenario is becoming de rigueur now, just as a) tables vs divs and floats and b)XHTML were years ago. It's only by becoming familiar with 'changes' that one can decide for oneself if there are advantages (or not). It's not just 'cool', it's advisable - if you want to make an informed decision. Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: Steve Green To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2011 11:56 AM Subject: RE: [WSG] HTML5 v. HTML 4.x In my view it depends on who you are and who is paying for the website development. If you are building a website for yourself, by all means spend as much time as you like learning about the new technologies and implementing them. However, if you are building a website for someone else, you should obtain their consent before spending more than is necessary to meet their needs. HTML4 and XHTML1.0 already meet most needs. At first it will take developers longer to build sites using HTML5 because they are less familiar with it, and the client should not have to pay for that if they are deriving no benefit. If you think there may be some unquantifiable benefit in the future, ask the client if they want to pay more now in order to reap that benefit. I am all for the advancement of accessibility but I feel that a lot of developers want to use these new technologies because they are cool and interesting, not because they provide better value for their clients. Steve ******************************************************************* List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: memberh...@webstandardsgroup.org ******************************************************************* ******************************************************************* List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: memberh...@webstandardsgroup.org *******************************************************************
