Sent by Jeffrey Zeldman on 29 January 2002 11:11
Eric's fine article
(http://developer.netscape.com/evangelism/docs/articles/img-table/)
is helpful and was needed, but in illuminating a difference in CSS
interpretation between Mozilla and IE, it raises troubling practical
questions.
Will clients allow us to go back into existing sites -- sites that
are already published and paid for -- and modify their Style Sheets
to prevent Mozilla and its derivatives from "breaking" table-based
layouts?
Will those clients who allow us to do so pay us for our time? If not,
can all of us afford to do this work without compensation?
Will less-than-knowledgeable clients (i.e. many web clients) blame us
for for "not having done it right in the first place?" Will
less-than-knowledgeable clients think Mozilla is broken? Will they
write off Mozilla/NN6 as "too little used at this time to worry
about?"
If clients do not permit designers and developers to go back into
existing sites and alter their Style Sheets to accommodate the way
Mozilla/NN6 now renders table-based layouts, will users think
Mozilla/NN6 is "broken?" If so, will this decrease user adoption of
Mozilla and its derivatives, thus driving even more users to IE? (And
what impact would such a result have on the future of standards
compliance across all browsers?)
Will designers and developers who haven't read Eric's article and the
related quarreling in www-style
(http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2001Mar/0169.html)
think web standards are broken/not ready for Prime Time? Will those
who've read Eric's article and the related quarreling in www-style
come to the same conclusion?
I've read the relevant www-style threads, respect the intellect and
integrity of all concerned, and fully appreciate that they know more
about CSS than I ever will. I also appreciate that Mozilla/Netscape
is doing the right thing in fully complying with CSS according to the
best interpretation of its experts.
But the practical implications of this divergence between IE and
Mozilla concern me per all the unanswered questions asked above.
Particularly as I don't see sliced image layouts going away any time
soon, I fear that this divergence between our most compliant browsers
will make development more, not less, costly and complex.
I also worry that it may negatively impact the already-slow adoption
of Mozilla/NN6, and could convince some clients and developers that
web standards are unnecessarily complicated and more trouble than
they're worth.
If these questions were inappropriate to this list, please let me
know. I do not intend to stir up theoretical arguments on this list,
whose ground rules
(http://www.meyerweb.com/eric/css/discuss/info.html) clearly indicate
a preference for practical discussion over theory -- a preference I
share. As a working stiff trying to move my clients closer to W3C
compliance, I raise these issues in hopes they may generate practical
discussion and experience-based tips.
jeffrey
http://www.zeldman.com/ http://www.alistapart.com/
--
daily: http://www.zeldman.com/
weekly: http://www.alistapart.com/
as needed: http://www.webstandards.org/
design & consulting: http://www.happycog.com/
