On 4/10/2008 4:28 PM, Dave wrote [in part]: > On Apr 10, 7:41 am, I wrote [also in part]: > >> As for CSS3, it is nowhere near ready for be treated as the equivalent >> of a standard. > > Treating draft versions of standards, even ISO ones, as final versions > to bring software to users faster is not a disaster because software > is so easily upgraded. Apple' reputation for leading innovation is > based on doing this - they even do it with hardware specifications. > > As you say, W3C Recommendations are de facto industry standards. > Ultimately, if all major browser developers implement a draft, and > ignore the final, the draft becomes the de facto specification. When > Apple treats W3C drafts as finals, it invites that happening, because > it puts pressure on other browser developers to also do so to remain > competitive.
If you review successive W3C specifications through their evolution to Recommendation -- especially when a Candidate Recommendation is followed by a new Working Draft -- you will see substantive changes. Capabilities are added or deleted. In the case of CSS specifications, the syntax of properties may change. This (in addition to the need for test cases) is one reason why it takes so long for a W3C specification to reach the status of Recommendation. Treating draft versions of W3C specifications as final versions to bring software to users faster is potentially very wasteful. I think the Mozilla organization might not have the resources to implement something that then needs to be changed when the specification changes. And, no, the fact that a capability was implemented by a browser developer will not force the W3C to stop changing a non-Recommendation specification. -- David E. Ross <http://www.rossde.com/> Go to Mozdev at <http://www.mozdev.org/> for quick access to extensions for Firefox, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, and other Mozilla-related applications. You can access Mozdev much more quickly than you can Mozilla Add-Ons. _______________________________________________ dev-tech-layout mailing list [email protected] https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-tech-layout
