Why (NetscapeMicrosoftInterconNetManageQuarterdeckAppleEtcetera),
you might ask? The problem here is that HTML as we know it isn't a
standard anymore. Netscape opened the floodgates with <blink>,
and all the other browser vendors leapt in to fill the chasm with proprietary
'enhancements' to the very simple HTML standard. HTML died at 2.0
for all practical purposes, and even that was never formally ratified
as a standard. It just so happened that most vendors included that
proposed feature set into their product. Sheer luck and good timing
keep the Web as compatible as it is. In fact, many browsers out there
in use today can't see the background image on this page and don't
know that the text is centered. There's still a lot of users who use
Lynx from a shell account. And you're designing with frames?
Why did this divergence take place? Partly market pressure and
the explosive growth of the Web, partly smaller vendors trying to
pre-empt Microsoft, but I think it was mostly because standards
development has become ossified. HTML is a standard unlike many
of the internet standards in that it's not handled by 'working groups'
like the IETF. There's an actual organization responsible for the
Web alone, and that's a guarantee of putrefication. A whole
organization - look at the UN if you want to see where that goes.
Break up the Web, give HTML to a handful of IETF geeks, and
it'll develop on it's own.
How can we fight this?
I see several possibilities. We could let Microsoft control the Web.
Or we could let Sun control it. Or Apple. Or Oracle. Or Netscape.
Or (insert vendor here). What we should do, though, is stop jumping
onto new proprietary features when they ship. Don't use frames.
Don't use animation. Let the user download the video clip and then
play it, it'll look like crap on a 28.8 modem connection anyways!
No marquees scrolling across the screen (the digital equivalent
of "EAT AT JOE's"), and no more damned <blink>.
Build your pages for substance, not style. Use good design principles,
not glitz and flash. The background on this page is not essential to
the content. Neither is the type alignment. Hopefully the content
is what matters.
-Josh Turiel