[development] Administration Survey: Theme improvements, theme help system, theme mailing list

[Larry Garfield]

On Thursday 01 December 2005 09:40 am, andre wrote:

> On that note - it might be a good idea to include links to pages like:
> http://www.hixie.ch/advocacy/xhtml part of the best practices
> documentation.
>
> andre

I don't know why people insist on passing that page around, since it's 
spreading FUD.

- The scenario right up at the top applies only to dumb developers, because it 
does not include validation.  If you're not validating your code against your 
specified doctype, then you're doing it wrong in the first place.

- <script> and <style> with funky comments to hide from old browsers: I don't 
recall the last time I saw someone actually use the comments, now that 
Netscape 3 is no longer used.  And if you're putting Javascript or CSS 
directly into the page in the first place rather than linking to it, then 
you're doing it wrong in the first place.  

- CSS stylesheet differences: Of course it's case-sensitive, XML is case 
sensitive.  Duh.

- DOM scripts work differently: This is the only one with any validity, but 
again being careful in what you write takes care of most of it.  You'll need 
to rewrite the Javascript anyway whenever you do actually upgrade to XHTML, 
so you may as well get a jump on it.

- document.write() breaks in XHTML: document.write() belongs in the same place 
as the <font> tag.  Even if you're just writing for HTML, you should be using 
DOM methods.

- Some UAs get confused: I have never once seen a UA that when given valid 
XHTML sent as text/html 'show[s]   ">" characters all over the page.'

So it's not XHTML that is considered harmful, it's people assuming that 
throwing a few />'s into their code makes it XHTML.  Read: XHTML doesn't 
break browsers, web developers break bad browsers. :-)  Don't blame XHTML for 
the fact that most web developers are morons and most web surfers use the POS 
that is IE.  

Let's leave the old FUD links out of the handbook.

-- 
Larry Garfield			AIM: LOLG42
larry at garfieldtech.com		ICQ: 6817012

"If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of 
exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, 
which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to 
himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession 
of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it."  -- Thomas 
Jefferson