Latest entries in category 'Web standards'https://www.b-list.org/weblog/categories/web-standards/2013-10-16T08:55:32-05:00James BennettExtended media thoughts2013-10-16T08:55:32-05:002013-10-16T08:55:32-05:00James Bennetthttps://www.b-list.org/tag:www.b-list.org,2013-10-16:/weblog/2013/oct/16/eme/<p>The first weekend of this month, for me, was spent in sunny Santa Clara, attending the 2013 Mozilla Summit. Overall, it was a great weekend, getting to reconnect with old friends, make some new ones and see and talk about a lot of cool technology and plans for the future of Mozilla. Like most people (or so I suspect), I’m not normally a huge fan of company get-togethers, but Mozilla is different from normal in …</p>
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https://www.b-list.org/about/copyright/In pace requiescat2009-07-08T08:41:38-05:002009-07-08T08:41:38-05:00James Bennetthttps://www.b-list.org/tag:www.b-list.org,2009-07-08:/weblog/2009/jul/08/xhtml/
<p>So the charter of the <acronym title="eXtensible HyperText Markup Language"><span class="caps">XHTML</span></acronym> Working Group <a href="http://www.w3.org/2009/06/xhtml-faq">will be allowed to expire without renewal</a>. This is a source of consternation for <a href="http://www.zeldman.com/2009/07/02/xhtml-wtf/">some</a>, who feel that the <acronym title="World Wide Web Consortium"><span class="caps">W3C</span></acronym> is perhaps sending conflicting messages — how long until we find out that <acronym title="HyperText Markup Language"><span class="caps">HTML</span></acronym>5 isn’t <em>really</em> the future, either? — and, perhaps, smug “I told you so” satisfaction for <a href="http://diveintomark.org/archives/2009/07/06/this-is-the-house">others</a>.
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<p>I have little to add to either of those camps, so what follows …</p>
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https://www.b-list.org/about/copyright/Microformats and such2008-06-29T02:41:41-05:002008-06-29T02:41:41-05:00James Bennetthttps://www.b-list.org/tag:www.b-list.org,2008-06-29:/weblog/2008/jun/29/microformats-and-such/
<p>I hope you’ll forgive this brief diversion from my ongoing attempt to distinguish web developers from web designers, but it’s late, I’ve had a couple beers and I’ve been tinkering a bit with some code. Regularly-scheduled programming will return shortly.
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<p>So. <a href="http://diveintomark.org/archives/2008/06/29/microformats-accessibility">The microformats people and the accessibility people are at war with each other</a>, or so it seems (remember to read that article with tongue firmly in cheek). The cause of this tempest in a …</p>
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https://www.b-list.org/about/copyright/Things I have learned about XHTML2008-06-21T19:59:44-05:002008-06-21T19:59:44-05:00James Bennetthttps://www.b-list.org/tag:www.b-list.org,2008-06-21:/weblog/2008/jun/21/xhtml/
<p>The following are gleaned from the comments to <a href="/weblog/2008/jun/18/html/">my recent explanation</a> of why I chose to use <acronym title="HyperText Markup Language"><span class="caps">HTML</span></acronym> 4.01 Strict for my redesign, rather than a flavor of <acronym title="eXtensible HyperText Markup Language"><span class="caps">XHTML</span></acronym>, an explanation in which I mostly boiled the debate — for my needs, here on this site — down to “<span class="caps">XHTML</span> doesn’t offer me any compelling advantage, and it’s more complex to do right than most people know/admit”.
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<p>Advance warning: yes, this is snarky and …</p>
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https://www.b-list.org/about/copyright/Why HTML2008-06-18T01:14:02-05:002008-06-18T01:14:02-05:00James Bennetthttps://www.b-list.org/tag:www.b-list.org,2008-06-18:/weblog/2008/jun/18/html/
<p>So, as I let the dust settle from <a href="/weblog/2008/jun/15/minimal/">the most controversial changes I made in the redesign</a> (and tweak some things and watch my stats in response to the constructive feedback I’ve gotten), I’d like to address the <em>other</em> big change that people have been asking about: why I switched (switched <em>back</em>, actually) from <acronym title="eXtensible HyperText Markup Language"><span class="caps">XHTML</span></acronym> 1.0 to <acronym title="HyperText Markup Language"><span class="caps">HTML</span></acronym> 4.01.
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<p>The short and sweet reason is simply this: <span class="caps">XHTML</span> offers no compelling advantage — to …</p>
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https://www.b-list.org/about/copyright/Victory for the web2008-03-03T18:22:44-06:002008-03-03T18:22:44-06:00James Bennetthttps://www.b-list.org/tag:www.b-list.org,2008-03-03:/weblog/2008/mar/03/victory/
<p><a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/03/03/microsoft-s-interoperability-principles-and-ie8.aspx"><span class="dquo">“</span>Standards” means “standards”</a>. Thank you for listening.
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<p>Now. Anybody out there who’s relying on version-specific quirks, get off your ass and fix your sites. It’s 2008, for crying out loud.
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https://www.b-list.org/about/copyright/X-UA-8-Ball2008-02-19T18:27:13-06:002008-02-19T18:27:13-06:00James Bennetthttps://www.b-list.org/tag:www.b-list.org,2008-02-19:/weblog/2008/feb/19/8ball/
<p>Once again, with apologies to John Gruber…
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<p><strong>Q:</strong> Do standards-based developers have to use <code>X-UA-Compatible</code> if they care about progressive enhancement for future browsers?
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<p><strong>A:</strong> As I see it, yes.
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<p><strong>Q:</strong> Doesn’t Internet Explorer already offer <a href="http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537512.aspx">a fine-grained way to target specific versions</a>?
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<p><strong>A:</strong> Yes, definitely.
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<p><strong>Q:</strong> So if there was a problem with the <span class="caps">IE6</span> to <span class="caps">IE7</span> transition, doesn’t that mean people weren’t properly using an existing tool which could have future-proofed their sites?
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<p><strong>A:</strong> You may rely …</p>
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https://www.b-list.org/about/copyright/X-No-Really2008-02-19T12:54:15-06:002008-02-19T12:54:15-06:00James Bennetthttps://www.b-list.org/tag:www.b-list.org,2008-02-19:/weblog/2008/feb/19/really/
<p>It’s sad to reach the point where “epic fail” is the most apt term I can come up with to describe an article by Zeldman, but that’s where I am today. His article <a href="http://www.alistapart.com/articles/minorthreat">“Version Targeting: Threat or Menace?”</a> in today’s <acronym title="A List Apart"><span class="caps">ALA</span></acronym> is so far off the mark that, honestly, I can’t come up with any other description.
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<p>No, <a href="/weblog/2008/jan/23/legacy/">Microsoft is not relevant anymore</a>.
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<p>No, <a href="http://www.alistapart.com/articles/theyshootbrowsers">the default behavior is not correct</a>.
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<p>No, <a href="/weblog/2008/jan/28/ie8/">the switch does …</a></p>
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https://www.b-list.org/about/copyright/X-No-Thanks2008-01-28T23:16:48-06:002008-01-28T23:16:48-06:00James Bennetthttps://www.b-list.org/tag:www.b-list.org,2008-01-28:/weblog/2008/jan/28/ie8/
<p>Last week I spent some time dissecting what, I believe, is <a href="/weblog/2008/jan/23/legacy/">the reason behind</a> the announcement that Windows Internet Explorer (<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr" style="font-style: italic">née</span> “Microsoft Internet Explorer”) will, as of version 8, include the ability to <a href="http://alistapart.com/articles/beyonddoctype">emulate previous versions of its rendering engine</a> and, in addition, will default to emulating <span class="caps">IE</span> 7 when no version is specified (with the exception of <acronym title="HyperText Markup Language"><span class="caps">HTML</span> 5</acronym>, which reputedly <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/cwilso/archive/2008/01/22/i-feel-happy-too.aspx#7203075">will trigger a genuine “standards mode”</a> in <span class="caps">IE</span> 8).
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<p>At the …</p>
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https://www.b-list.org/about/copyright/Legacy.2008-01-23T04:53:45-06:002008-01-23T04:53:45-06:00James Bennetthttps://www.b-list.org/tag:www.b-list.org,2008-01-23:/weblog/2008/jan/23/legacy/
<blockquote><p>For centuries Galactic civilization has stagnated and declined, though only a few ever realized that. But now, at last, the Periphery is breaking away and the political unity of the Empire is shattered. Somewhere in the fifty years just past is where the historians of the future will place an arbitrary line and say: “This marks the Fall of the Galactic Empire.”
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</blockquote><p style="text-align: right; padding-right: 10px;">— Isaac Asimov, <cite>Foundation</cite></p>
<p>Amid clamor in the world of finance, the world of …</p>
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https://www.b-list.org/about/copyright/The future of web standards2007-12-17T03:17:07-06:002007-12-17T03:17:07-06:00James Bennetthttps://www.b-list.org/tag:www.b-list.org,2007-12-17:/weblog/2007/dec/17/standards/
<p>The world of standards-based web design and development has been undergoing something of a shake-up these past few days; Andy Clarke’s <a href="http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/malarkey/more/css_unworking_group/">“<span class="caps">CSS</span> Unworking Group”</a> seems to have opened the floodgates to expressions of dissatisfaction with the current method of progress (or lack thereof) in developing and standardizing new features for web developers and designers. Alex Russell’s <a href="http://alex.dojotoolkit.org/?p=642">“The <span class="caps">W3C</span> Cannot Save Us”</a> and my friend and former colleague Jeff Croft’s <a href="http://www2.jeffcroft.com/blog/2007/dec/16/do-we-need-return-browser-wars/">“Do we need a return …</a></p>
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https://www.b-list.org/about/copyright/A chronicle of the Ages of the Web2007-01-24T04:10:10-06:002007-01-24T04:10:10-06:00James Bennetthttps://www.b-list.org/tag:www.b-list.org,2007-01-24:/weblog/2007/jan/24/chronicle-ages-web/
<p>Sometime pretty soon (in fact, in the very next thing I write), I’m going to need some consistent way to refer to different periods in the history of the Web. I don’t know of any widely-accepted chronology for this, and I especially don’t know of any which really fits with the sort of references I’m going to need to make, so, with apologies to <span class="caps">J.R.R.</span> Tolkien, I present my own chronicle, derived from one too …</p>
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https://www.b-list.org/about/copyright/Be liberal in your HTTP Accept...2007-01-12T12:22:40-06:002007-01-12T12:22:40-06:00James Bennetthttps://www.b-list.org/tag:www.b-list.org,2007-01-12:/weblog/2007/jan/12/be-liberal-your-http-accept/
<p>Ever since I started using Joe Gregorio’s <code>mimeparse</code> module to help with <a href="/weblog/2007/01/08/openid-delegation-under-django-and-lighttpd">my OpenID delegation</a>, I’ve been treated to a first-hand tour of the various things people have thought it would be good to stuff into the <acronym title="HyperText Transfer Protocol"><span class="caps">HTTP</span></acronym> <code>Accept</code> headers their applications send. So, naturally, I’m going to start a gallery of some of my favorites.
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<p>So far the winner in the “is that really what you meant” category is what appears to be the …</p>
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