Coding to spec is a wonderful option when it works.
The previous versions HTML and CSS were/are so ambiguous that browsers could follow the spec and still not render the same pixel-for-pixel. Today there are enough blessed test cases that those who write the browsers can usually get to the same destination, but that has not been the case for long.
Many people writing production pages are coding to HTML5 while yelling about standards. They are hypocrites. HTML5 is not yet a standard and will likely have breaking changes before it is. That means anyone doing HTML page for static media like CDROM, (yes, a lot of documentation lives on read-only media), or on short term contracts should not use it. It also means that anyone contracting out web work better damn well have a support contract so they can get all their content updated when the spec is blessed and the browsers catch up.
Versioning is incredibly important when it comes to archiving data and that includes HTML documents. Real software developers do not make breaking changes in what are labeled as minor revisions AND software developers that care about their users do not stop releasing security patches for 3 month old products. The FireFox team has proven many times that they are not real software developers and they do not care about their users. If you don't believe me, look at the dates and comments on the top rated bugs that have been reported to them..
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Coding to spec is a wonderful option when it works.
The previous versions HTML and CSS were/are so ambiguous that browsers could follow the spec and still not render the same pixel-for-pixel. Today there are enough blessed test cases that those who write the browsers can usually get to the same destination, but that has not been the case for long.
Many people writing production pages are coding to HTML5 while yelling about standards. They are hypocrites. HTML5 is not yet a standard and will likely have breaking changes before it is. That means anyone doing HTML page for static media like CDROM, (yes, a lot of documentation lives on read-only media), or on short term contracts should not use it. It also means that anyone contracting out web work better damn well have a support contract so they can get all their content updated when the spec is blessed and the browsers catch up.
Versioning is incredibly important when it comes to archiving data and that includes HTML documents. Real software developers do not make breaking changes in what are labeled as minor revisions AND software developers that care about their users do not stop releasing security patches for 3 month old products. The FireFox team has proven many times that they are not real software developers and they do not care about their users. If you don't believe me, look at the dates and comments on the top rated bugs that have been reported to them..