[LINK] Bad government web sites

[Ivan Trundle]

On 20/08/2007, at 9:20 AM, Rick Welykochy wrote:

> Of course this problem should go away if XHTML became the lingua  
> franca
> since XML should not accepted by an application unless it is well  
> formed.
> That's the XML policy.
>
> Unfortunately web browsers do not enforce this policy and do accept
> crap XHTML.

Now wouldn't *that* be an interesting dilemma?

If browser developers enforced the policy, then people would be  
quickly annoyed by poor coding, but who would they blame? And would  
they just switch to another browser that worked, instead?

So we have a situation where browser developers are trying to  
accommodate poor coding so that their product is well-used (and  
liked), whilst shifting the responsibility to the website coders, who  
are under no compulsion to write better code, or check it after every  
revision. Meanwhile, the gatekeepers of XML shake their collective  
heads and say 'We warned you that this would happen...'

iT

In times of anarchy one may seem a despot in order to be a saviour.
      - Marquis de Mirabeau, Victor de Riquetti