Lachlan, you have been on this list long enough to know that when you make extreme statements such as "since you're new, you might want to stick with HTML4" or "IE does not support XHTML", that debate will ensue. This is not what newcomers to Web Standards need. A better approach would have been to ask why this person needs/wants to use XHTML and if he/she has a good reason to do so, give this person advice on how to do it right.
To address your statement that "IE does not support XHTML" - this is not true. IE does support XHTML 1.0 - you and I just don't like the level of support IE offers. If you serve valid XHTML as HTML to IE, will there be any data loss? No! Will any modern assistive technology running on top of IE not be able to access the data? No! So, if XHTML is written to specification and to compatibility guidelines, IE will support XHTML. Now, I don't want to give Hickson any more of my attention. But I will say that he and his groupies are not interested in teaching people how to use XHTML correctly. They are far more interested in inventing HTML 5 that no one now or will ever support. Regards, -Vlad http://xstandard.com -------- Original Message -------- From: Lachlan Hunt Date: 12/2/2005 5:08 PM > Vlad Alexander (XStandard) wrote: >> Lachlan Hunt wrote: >>> Lori Cole wrote: >>>> I am new to (trying to learn how) constructing standards >>>> conforming web pages using XHTML and would like to know what HTML >>>> editor you folks that are light years ahead of me would >>>> recommend? >>> >>> Since you're new, you might want to stick with HTML4 >> >> Lachlan, here is a classic example of a person new to Web Standards >> asking for a recommendation about which editor to use and instead you >> embroil this person in a debate over MIME types. > > My original advice to Lori did not include anything about MIME types or > any other technical issues, I merely advised him/her that XHTML was not > widely supported that there's a lot to learn about XHTML before one can > use it; both points are true and I would expect anyone to give such > advice to a beginner, before they go off and learn XHTML wrongly. I > only brought up all the technical issues in order to defend my position, > and if I wasn't able to defend my position, I would have lost credibility. > >> Do you think this is a healthy environment for newcomers to learn >> about Web Standards? > > Yes. Why should we attempt to hide the truth from them, especially when > they're just starting out and they need to lose/avoid any bad habits and > mistakes as quickly as possible. > >> Since you brought up MIME types and Hickson's article, let me say that >> you will get a lot more credibility for your argument if you stop >> referring to an article that is based on flawed assumptions. > > The assumptions are not completely flawed, and while the conclusion that > authors blame XHTML may not be true in all cases, substitute "XHTML" > with "browsers" or anything else commonly blamed by incompetent authors > other than themselves, and the rest of the assumptions still hold true. > But those assumptions you quoted from the article are irrelevant to the > accuracy of the technical arguments within it. It is the technical > arguments you need to dispute, not some introductory prose. > ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
