Re-inventing HTML

by Joshua Porter  |   7 Comments

Tim Berners-Lee in Re-inventing HTML:

“Some things are clearer with hindsight of several years. It is necessary to evolve HTML incrementally. The attempt to get the world to switch to XML, including quotes around attribute values and slashes in empty tags and namespaces all at once didn’t work. The large HTML-generating public did not move, largely because the browsers didn’t complain. Some large communities did shift and are enjoying the fruits of well-formed systems, but not all. It is important to maintain HTML incrementally, as well as continuing a transition to well-formed world, and developing more power in that world.”

Read Re-inventing HTML

Comments ( 7 Responses so far )

1.  Darren Stuart on October 28th, 2006 (Comment) #

Is there really a need for an HTML version 5 etc with XHTML? I read Tims comments and thought why bother. I know there are a lot of new devices coming on the market and maybe the computer will not be the most used device to view web content. I just can’t see what else can be done with HTML which cannot be done with XHTML.

2.  Vera on October 28th, 2006 (Comment) #

Sounds a sensible observation to me. Full time programmers zinging along at lightning speed is all very well providing that their products are only for themselves (each other) or that user products require no specialized knowledge. That might be a common aim of great web design, but it also isn’t fully compatible with widespread user interaction and perticipation on the web.

The more one wants to ‘do’ on a computer, the more specialized knowledge one has to acquire.

As a user, I didn’t find learning basic html too taxing, and wasn’t expecting to be confronted with hybrid css, xtml, javascript, etc. compilations on the next round. Do I spend time going further with css now or drop it to familiarize myself with php first? Even a few years ago it was a fairly simple matter to find someone competent to do something for me if I didn’t have time to learn how personally. Now I’m encountering a phenomenon where web developers are fluent in Ruby (for example) and reasonably conversant in a number of other languages, but require a period for familiarization with *something* for even the seemingly simplest of projects.

Compatibility, of course, is an equally difficult offspring of this issue.

Vera

Pingback: » From Bokardo - Re-inventing HTML - My Web Design Blogs

3.  eric on January 17th, 2007 (Comment) #

eric 1000

4.  Kurtlar vadisi pusu on February 11th, 2008 (Comment) #

thanks

5.  Sinema on February 11th, 2008 (Comment) #

thanks good

6.  Kolay Gelsin on February 11th, 2008 (Comment) #

thanks goods

Add Your Comment

Accepted tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> .

Preview...

If your comment contains links, or if it is your destiny, your comment may not show up immediately. I'll approve it as soon as I can. (I delete dozens of comment spams per day)

Get updated when someone posts a comment: Comment Feed


ABOUT

Bokardo is the blog of Joshua Porter, a web designer/developer, researcher, and writer. I live in Newburyport, MA, USA.

WHAT IS SOCIAL DESIGN?

Social design is design that focuses on the social lives of users. It deals with the activities, behaviors, and motivations of people who work and play together through software interfaces. It is built on the observation that many of the decisions we make are greatly affected by those we surround ourselves with in our social lives: our family, friends, and colleagues. Exploring our motivations and how to design interfaces to support them is what the Bokardo blog is all about.

Designing for the Social Web

Building a social web site or application? I wrote a book just for you!

designing for the social web

Find out more or order from Peachpit or Amazon

Upcoming Speaking Events