> > >> It's funny that you would claim that the W3C is a group of Linux people >> who hate Microsoft, when Microsoft is in fact a founding member of this >> group and is one of the writers of these standards. In fact, MSIE for the >> Mac was made to conform well to these standards. It is unfortunate that >> MSIE for Windows developers were not able to fully implement the very >> standards that Microsoft helped write, > > Microsoft joined the board when they were the minority browser. > You can list 2,000 companies, but the bottom line. > > If it doesn't look right with MS Explorer, It don't work. > If a page will look better using non w3c standards in Ms explorer, > they will MS Explorer standards. > > It is Microsoft that is in control, not the w3c. > But I noticed, MS Explorer handles all w3c pages very well.
Kyle, there is something you missed, that I pointed out in a previous post, and that is Forward Compatibility. MSIE 7.0 is planned to be much more standards-compliant than 6.0. If you design for a particular browser, if a new version appears and they change the way they render the HTML, you will have to redesign your web pages. The trend among browser makers is towards being W3C compliant. This is understandable, since it is the browser makers that decided on those standards. Including Microsoft. FYI, MS is still very much involved in the activities of the W3C. We, as webmasters, should follow these trends if we want the way we code to still work in the future. With this in mind, then coding according to standards is the practical thing to do. You might say, if IE 7 comes out and it does happen to be more standards-compliant, then /only then/ will you code that way. I would say that it is better to code the correct way now. This is the time to start building good habits. It is true that MSIE 6.0 are the de facto standards, as opposed to the W3C which are the de jure standards. Unfortunately the de facto standards change with each new release of the browser. De jure standards can be counted on to stand the test of time. I hope I make sense. Bamm. P.S. I understand your sentiments. I, too, try to make a balance between making things work in IE and making sure it will work in other browsers and future browsers. 4 years ago when Netscape was the market leader, it was Netscape that was dictating the standards and it was MS that was pushing for adherence to W3C. Now it's the other way around.
