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Actually, the diagnosis is not entirely accurate.

While it may become increasingly difficult to forge digital images, and even forge hard currency, the result could be of two possibilities;

1. Forgers get smart and use older cameras to take a picture of a digital forgery to pass as an original, using blurring techniques offered by physical means and lens... etc (easy)
2. Forgers quit being forgers (unlikely)
3. Alteration technologists create armor against image forgery detection algorithms (possible)

For me, I think any time spent trying to beat the detection of forgeries would be a good thing in terms of art and creativity -- not to mention the possibility of better digital growth algorithms to join layers mathematically seamlessly (which could be used in games and simulation engines for better realism). However, law enforcement agencies might try to combat the circumvention of forgery detection by charging people with crimes for only trying to make their images more realistic and improve technology. It's a messy issue, that will sort itself out over time.

In Doom 3 Bloopers, a mod I've started on, I am looking at ways of integrating realworld imagery into the mod, and this detection stuff could actually help me to better integrate my own art and images if I can find a way around it. Let's face it, if the math says it's an original, the human eye will be fooled, which is the goal of most video game design. If anyone wants to help along those lines, they should contact me!

> all of the examples I have seen do not accomplish the separation of content and layout which CSS seems to promise

The very best use of XHTML and CSS is by adding PHP into the mix. With PHP you can quickly generate your content using a template, without having to grow your XHTML out of control.

I'm going to be releasing the source code for my blog/photo-blog site over at zenbuzz.org very soon, at sourceforge.net/projects/gemsites.

This project lets you quickly design an XHTML template that goes with a CSS stylesheet, and then just leave it alone, running your site much more efficiently.

Features include, but are not limited to: photo/image uploading, safe image authorization by an admin, link submission, story submission, comments, user registration and validation, password changing if you forget your password, XHTML 1.0 Strict, PHP generated CSS (so you can write CSS using PHP), templates, admin contact form, FAQ generation, autologon, and a fairly good tracking system to know where links are coming from. That's just a start, really.

Images will display in articles if they are authorized images. The way the image code works is that images are uploaded and stuff into a database for approval. When they are approved they are written to the FTP and snuffed out of the database. When an admin is looking at the images that are not approved, the image validates the admin's session and only writes the image if the admin is valid. That keeps people from spamming your site with crappy images, and it prevents ftp uploading that could result in legal action.

> There is more to separation than just this however. In particular, I have to wonder what will happen to CSS Zen Garden if the content of the page is changed, say a paragraph is suddenly twice as long or goes away or an extra paragraph appears.

The trick is to create a template that supports dynamic text, using either classes or id tags based on the type of data. To do so is not easy; it's hard, but when you get it right, it's good to go. It's fairly simple to expand div tags so they can support dynamic content; the hard part is making a really nice looking site that conforms.

I did a page for a company before that resulted in some problems with the background image they wanted to use, as some pages dropped past the threshold of the image, and using another scroll-bar is never the answer (ie: don't use the CSS overflow attribute or use it very sparingly).

The solution? I posted the image in the main area, and simply designed the website around it. The background image became a seamless concrete texture.

So you have to work around problems with how we understand the web, and how the web works best. It's our problem, not the standards, IMHO.

> The style sheets include knowledge of the content and depend on it to fit inside certain boundaries. The prevalant use of ID tags (rather than descriptive style tags) really seems to underscore this.

Well we do have boundaries to work within; the browser window, but apart from that, we could really learn how to use the class attribute better so that the boundaries are more dynamic. Using the percent % width value, works wonders, but it's hard to sometimes get it right. I define my sheets as static size and let the end user worry about scrolling over if they have a small resolution; I just design it to work nicely with 800x600 and go from there. I too had many problems with CSS in the beginning but I'm far better at it than I once was. PHP created CSS works wonders.

> It seems like there should almost be three files: (at least) one for the content, one for general style rules, and one for local tweaks for the current page (laying out specific graphics).

PHP generated CSS will do this nicely. I can help you do some if you want to contact me, just click my site link. =)

#pageHeader {position:absolute;left:1px;top:1px;width:222px;}

<div id="container">
<div id="pageHeader">Blah</div>
</div>

I don't think there is a need to get XHTML and CSS all gooped full of new features, so I hope it doesn't go in that direction. I know Microsoft will try and take it in that direction to compliment their overcomplicated Long Horn. In my opinion as a user of XHTML and CSS with PHP, I believe that what is required is simlification so that everyday users will want to use XHTML with CSS. Products could provide this but I still think the best way to code websites is by hand. XHTML and CSS are quite satisfactory at this point, but perhaps they may require some refinement. Please no more crazy features, because you can save that for DHTML and Flash (yuck, but good for some). Take a look at CSSzengarden.com if you are not yet convinced in XHTML with CSS is artistically pleasing enough for you. It's a better standard than many websites around.

This article really illuminates nothing, and isn't anything more than a rant about someone who was disappointed with their CRPG purchase. So?

Actually, this article seems to be a push for his RPG Standards Compliance system.
This article is a bait-like makteting device masquarading as an analysis.
It's a good move to get the visibility needed.

I could be wrong, but it smells like it.