[development] HTML5, XHTML2, and the Future of the Web

[Larry Garfield]

On Wednesday 18 April 2007 5:52 pm, Anton wrote:
> On 19/04/07, Karoly Negyesi <karoly at negyesi.net> wrote:
> > http://www.digital-web.com/articles/html5_xhtml2_and_the_future_of_the_we
> >b/
>
> (hopefully this isn't drifting too far offtopic)
>
> While I suspect Drupal will still be based on XHTML 1.0 by default for
> quite a while yet, what do others think of (X)HTML5? And will it have
> any bearing on Drupal?
>
> I have to admit a slight uneasiness about HTML5 - while it is cool
> that there will be some new useful trinkets and stuff, it just seems
> hacky and slightly rushed to me. As well as it doing very little to
> encourage better markup practices.
>
> And while XHTML2 probably has close to zero chance of succeeding due
> to its disruptiveness and lack of interest from browser makers, it
> does seem much better designed and thought out.

"HTML5 has support from all the major browser vendors except Microsoft. "

Meaning it doesn't matter what we actually want, or what's good for the web.  
This question will become relevant somewhere in 2019 when IE 9 finally has 
enough market share that we can start relying on CSS 2 being supported 
properly.  That is how things work in the web, you realize.  

Personally I like XML and XML semantics.  Rejecting grossly mal-formed pages 
is something browsers *should* do.  I agree we need richer form elements, 
better vector-drawing capability (wait, what's wrong with XHTML+SVG besides 
IE?), etc.  But what we really need is a layout language, which the web lacks 
right now.  (CSS 2 is not a layout language; it's a formatting language that 
can be bent into a layout language.)  

But as I said, what is actually useful doesn't matter as long as browsers 
older than Drupal itself are allowed to exist.  (Or IE 7, which is still 
playing catch up to 2002...)


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

"If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of 
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