Microsoft Finally Joins HTML 5 Standard Efforts

bonch writes "On Friday, Microsoft posted to a mailing list that IE developers are reviewing the HTML 5 standard for future versions of Internet Explorer. They've given some feedback on the current editor's draft, saying that they 'have more questions than answers' and criticizing many of HTML 5's new tags, like <header>, <footer> and <aside>, calling them 'arbitrary' or unnecessary. It remains to be seen whether Microsoft waited too long to try to influence basic parts of the spec that most of their competitors have already adopted."

Comments

Lol wut?

[TubeSteak]

"It remains to be seen whether Microsoft waited too long to try to influence basic parts of the spec that most of their competitors have already adopted."

Whatever Microsoft decides to implement is going to become a defacto standard.
It's the sad but true result of still significant share of the browser market.

Re:Lol wut?

[Anonymous Coward]

Factor in most browsing stats are from slackers on their work PCs, not home machines.

http://gs.statcounter.com/

Usage patterns vary a lot among countries, but the general trend is: IE usage drops on weekends, Fx usage climbs on weekends.

Re:Lol wut?

[Runaway1956]

And, that is exactly where the REST of the world is screwing up. We (meaning all the world outside of Redmond) need to set the standard, then comply with it. If/when pages don't render in IE, we need to shrug, and say, "So what?" IT IS NOT THE WORLD'S PROBLEM when MS chooses to break things. Ballmer wants to throw a chair, few of us notices, and even fewer give a damn. Ballmer wants to break IE, I don't notice, and I don't give a damn. Why does anyone else?

The correct procedure for website design, would be to test the site in FF, Opera, Safari, and/or any other standards compliant browser, and say you're done. Don't even TRY to load it in IE. If it loads, fine, if not, tough. If/when someone complains, just tell that individual that the page renders perfectly in any standards compliant browser, and that they should get one.

It is not the rest of the world's responsibility to "fix" MS screw ups.

MS HTML5

[sskinnider]

It doesn't matter how long MS waited. They will just "extend" the standard and call all other implementations broken.

For this one, RTFA

[bruce_the_loon]

The usual journalistic nightmare of a summary.

They did not call header and footer arbitrary or unnecessary. They questioned the implementation as to validity for printing.

They did call aside arbitrary as well as section.

From reading the post, I see a lot of good insights into what might be an overly-cluttered and, in places, badly written standard. While there is always an element of Microsoft playing their own games, this does raise valid questions.

Re:For this one, RTFA

[colfer]

The Mozilla developer who posted a response on the list agreed strongly also.

... In before the "lolwut?"

[Manip]

While everyone should keep an eye on Microsoft (*was always) this is generally a good thing for the Internet as a whole. We as consumers, and we as web-developers, alike will be a lot happier if all the major players can create a consistent experience.

If Microsoft, Mozilla, Google, and Apple are all on board before the spec' is even in the final stages we have a fairly good shot of similar behavour no matter the platform or browser.

A lot of Microsoft's "notes" on the HTML 5 spec are either - "This isn't detailed enough to implement concistently" or "Do we need this?" Both of which are fair questions to ask and something that others will want to answer before HTML 5 goes live.
 

Re:Does anyone actually USE IE anymore?

[linhares]

Chrome does not install in /programs, so it can be installed in machines at work with ease; kind of a big FU from google to MS and IT departments. I wish the installers for all other browsers followed suit.