on CSS browser-based prefixes. having lived through the same thing, I'll take having to restate a declaration a few times over all the other options.

"Except — shucks — there’s just one problem with this model: it’s evil!"

what the title says.

intriguing. maybe I'll sprinkle some html5 into my new blog design.

lots to chew on here

"Trying to follow the HTML standard requires withstanding a "denial of service" attack" -- I haven't even really tried and even I get that impression.

"I'm very confused to be defending Adobe and the W3C here. That's not my normal role."

"However, if you want to be taken seriously as a web pundit it seems to be a requirement that you put in your own two cents, so here's mine." plus, bonus fisticuffs with John Foliot in the comments! (sigh. everything about HTML5 makes me want to run away and hide.)

"these organizations are themselves large, lumbering beasts, lacking the agility, flexibility and luxury to push the envelope and explore the fringes. The poor folk who work there instead have to rely on and comply to STANDARDS, not specifications that shift like sand in the desert, but codified, nailed down, no-way-but-this-way STANDARDS." the era of web standards consolidation was incredibly powerful for improving sites in big orgs. don't f--- it up, people.

somewhat related to the previous link: about the MultiMarkdown engine.

"On the other hand, a competent standardista with high literacy and good tools can unfuck even horrifically unstructured documents in a matter of hours." Actually, this was a substantial portion of my job at Pierce. (And apparently I did it so well that no one's been able to replicate my work in that area since then.)

fun quotes: "writing W3C specifications and smoking crack are not mutually exclusive activities" and "I believe the colloquial response to this is a combination of the letters W, T and F, followed by a question mark." Indeed

Jeremy Keith's piece redone as a comic. Check out the boggly-eyes on that hamster in panel 4!

honestly, I'm just linking for this line: "Java is to JavaScript as ham is to hamster." awesome.

"Which brings me to the reason why I use XHTML: The validator enforces my preferred coding standards for HTML – lowercase elements, quoted attributes and closed elements. That’s it. Not much really. I know it’s marketing XHTML rather than technical XHTML. I don’t care. Or rather I do care, I just make a conscious pragmatic decision based on a small personal advantage. I’m both pedantic and like having a tool chain which enforces that, XHTML suits my style." this sums up my thoughts in a nutshell. via @fakebaldur, who quotes the same para in his blog. consistency may be the hobgoblin of little minds or whatever, but it sure does help with coding.

WTF? It comes off as really mean-spirited. I used to admire Mark P a lot, despite the ultra-snark, but this...ugh. Eric Meyer in the comments in his usual clear & straightforward way: "Someone’s going off the rails, all right, but I don’t think it’s who you think it is."

"There is nothing about HTML5 that represents long-term growth. Nothing that represents industry consensus about how the structure of web content should mature so that it is accessible to the handicapped. Nothing that makes it easier to markup content with its semantics in an extensible way. Nothing that allows the use of long-agreed upon W3C Recommendations." Fascinating stuff, I hadn't thought at all about this w/in the overall W3C mission.

"It has only been a few days but I am already sick of the “XHTML is bullshit, man!” crowd using the cessation of XHTML 2.0 activity to condescend to—or even childishly glory in the “folly” of—web developers who build with XHTML 1.0, a stable W3C recommendation for nearly ten years, and one that will continue to work indefinitely." Thank you. I like using XHTML purely for consistency in coding...always be closing & all that.

from the outlook PM: “The reason for this lies in the benefit Outlook users gain by having Word as their e-mail authoring tool; rich tools like SmartArt, automatic styles and templates, and other benefits found in Word 2007 and 2010 enable Outlook users to write professional looking and visually stunning messages.” great. so we have to put up with crap html-rendering to make sure that people can use bright pink comic sans and backgrounds of dancing penguins. thanks, guys.

I think this is a co-project of dylan & featherstone.

to review at some point in the future

cute little single-serving site

which out-there web stuff works with which browsers (past, present, future). potentially very useful!

"colspan: Use "colSpan"" -- you're freaking kidding me.

cracks me up. if it came to be, that would be sort of sweet.

"I demand documented standards with open reference implementations. That’s why I only develop with Microsoft technologies." - one of my other favorite curmudgeons. very high snark content.

"Spolsky's whole pitch is basically a race for the bottom" - plus OMG ponies! ;) also, alan's comment is well worth the read.

"the bigger the company and the more expensive the product, the worse the product's frontend code will be" -- regardless what anyone says about the "top 100 sites", I agree that this is all about the "enterprise" web apps & intranets. bleh.

"it's time they started earning their money instead of letting Dreamweaver do their jobs" - never mind the rest of the article (not much new here), I just love that line.

"What if this JS widget is designed for IE 7 and my page is designed for IE 6?" -- oh, I hadn't thought about that at all. Theoretically, that could be ugly. (also, check out the EOL dates in the comments! OMG!)

"Each new version of Windows introduces new APIs while attempting to maintain compatibility with old APIs, even to the point of mimicking buggy behavior." - connects the IE8 thing to OS issues.

"Noblesse oblige. Since we know more and can do more and better things with web sites, more is expected of us." oy. thanks a lot. ::rolls eyes::

comment #2 hits the nail precisely on the head. also, Shelley's extensive quoting of WaSP (etc) from 2000 captures, I think, why this is such an emotional topic. (so emotional that I needed an hour of IM time to keep from FREAKING OUT, as in, way beyond w

"The real question here is: Why do you have so many stuffed Lemurs??" - okay, that was what I needed. I get way too emo about this stuff.

Too many comments here to pick one, or to quote from any of JZ's text. Frankly, I find the whole thing incredibly dispiriting; deeply disheartening. Like something's gone horribly awry. Maybe Dylan's civil war comment (twitter? can't remember) is exactly

"There’s only one space left in the market where IE can still claim that bloated 95%+ market share: corporate intranets." -- Some excellent business analysis. (I'm reading the rest of my IE8 meta-switch backlog.)

In the comments: "I have no doubt that later versions of ASP.Net will automagically include the necessary meta tag; this will make the perception that the MS platform works better than anything else." THIS is the thing to fear.

"I feel like I’ve walked into an episode of the Twilight Zone." -- that's about it. I don't understand!!!!!!

"Software is 100% detail. Quality is 100% attention to detail. And the detail called X-UA-Compatible should be replaced with something better." -- I'm finding the notes from other browser makers particularly interesting. As designers we have one sort of p

"So, bottom line, we’d like to see fewer modes, not more." - a very thoughtful take from someone who's had to implement multiple browser modes.

"I, for one, [welcome our new overlords]." some serious WTF going on here.

"I fear that a new wave of browser wars would lead to an ascendancy of Robespierres and, inevetiably, Napoleons." -- I dig the comparison to the French Revolution.

"I wish The Web Standards Project would either disband or get meaningfully busy." -- from Z, down in the comments. whoa. IMHO, the problem with web standards now remains education of developers outside of the standards community. but that's a rant for ano

this is a good idea. html email is a PITA to do.

well, he's not the one presenting it, but that's where I found out. a very nice little tribute/awareness bit. I'll have to wear the blue knit elf-hat.

"So I had this idea… what if I made Jeremy Keith’s process work from wireframe to deployment?" holy moses. wow. hm. I may be taking advantage of these tools in the very near future, fingers crossed.

Yes.

mobile web stuff just makes me crazy, honestly.

I've had that exact same thought. (The classic example: Sharepoint.)

I have been a NASA fan since I was a little kid (even tho humans haven't walked on the moon in my lifetime), so this is very nice to see.

Critical things to remember. (Also, by way of a plug for a friend, these are all covered in Shelley's Adding Ajax book.)

Trying to decide whether to continue a 6+ year old conversation/argument with this little tidbit. (Filed under: "see I told you so.")

"it's not going anywhere and it's broken" -- excellent case for standards in html email. "people", btw, seem to really like email with graphics, colors, etc.

send this to Meri, Ellie, and possibly Kat.

a curious & clever analogy.

A nice general article on web standards, as a profile of the mighty Z. (I just wish that most sites were run with web standards. that'd be the day.)

looks potentially useful.

as Rebecca Blood said, geekiest earrings ever. also OMG SO AWESOME! I TOTALLY want a pair. (Imagine that last bit in my best Valley Girl voice.)

mostly very reasonable stuff. like most people, I'm very curious about the make-up of the group, still.

Useful info.

ye gods. I'm sort of hoping that sharepoint isn't in my future, but just in case....

Fascinating. I want to take some time to listen, and maybe submit something.

Good news? Maybe. At least it looks like a happy trendline.

"you and your students or readers deserve the chance to appreciate the joy of a clean, semantic page of HTML" -- Virginia waxes lyrical about Code View.

"on April 5th, simply remove all CSS from your website, stripping it entirely of its design" -- and look, there's a WP plugin!

oh, that's just fricking depressing.

that's what I say!

(cue Lundberg voice) um, yeah. not going to touch that right now.

ow. ow. ow.

which is why I'm learning Ajax & all that by hand before I leap into any library(ies).

"I’ll use the <ul> element to mark up an unordered list, because that’s what it’s for" -- a personal integrity approach to web design.

additional take on the whole Outlook '07 madness.

"The writer, engineer and artist overlap and merge, Voltron-style, to form The Designer." -- sort of a story version of Garrett Dimon's recent article. That merging of disciplines is one of the things I really love about web design.

finish reading later.

Yes. Garrett says exactly what I've thought for ages & ages.

'By now we all know the benefits of “web standards”' -- ah, if only that were true. But anyway: nice article on the redesign value of standards-based design. I went through this several times at Pierce, and usually only needed minor tweaks to my (te

"When the time arrives to assess a project, I borrow from the fundamentals…that I learned in grade school." fantastic!

fascinating. after a quick demo, I like it.

"It’s Comic Book Guy deciding what will and won’t be legal on your own Web page." -- in which Joe rants most marvelously. I was surprised to hear that TBL was getting together a new HTML group. It didn't seem very necessary. And that list of PDF tag

"Also, the left sidebar needs to be seven pixels shorter." - ha! and also: so very true.