Standards- I thought we already won this war . . .
The WebDev Community is an amazing one, encompassing some of the brightest and most creative minds on the planet. But such a huge pool of creativity and intelligence also creates some interesting . . . um . . . er . . . discussion. Debate. Or might we venture Argument? And oddly enough, it’s among people who, for the most part, basically agree about one thing- the need to advance and adhere to the most current operable W3 Standard.
The most recent example of this is “An open letter to WASP”, which proposes that a “charter” be written that sums up, for beginner webdevs, for old-code webdevs, and for webdev purchasing decision makers, what it is that makes xhtml/css development preferable and more profitable. On the face of it, this would seem to be an admirable endeavor, but, as is usually the case when the word “standards” is bandied about, the gloves come off and the lines are drawn in the sand. I swear, this bunch is so contentious the goal will never be reached, mostly because they’ll never agree on exactly what the goal IS.
Meanwhile I’ll keep on keeping on with clean web code, xhtml/css all the way. I’ll stay away from the arguments, the rhetoric and what seems at times to be outright zealotry.
I’ll also usually get the job if I’m up against an old-coder for it. Even the most computer unsavvy customer will choose to have his or her site written in up to date code. Nobody who has watched the growth of the web in the last ten years wants to be left behind.
