Wednesday, February 19, 2003

W3C CSS specs pages - a rant

The W3C just posted a new version of its CSS specs: Cascading Style Sheets. The big flap is it doesn't look right in IE6, which many say is a smack in the chops for Microsoft because IE6 isn't completely standards-compliant. However, if you look at the page in Netscape 6, it looks like crap as well. In Opera 6, it looks better. But it's still crappy looking. Maybe it's the DESIGN ITSELF that's bad and not compliance issues with the browsers?

Maybe if the standards were ever FINISHED it wouldn't be such a problem? Why do I have to download some obscure, weird browser to see what CSS is SUPPOSED to look like? Maybe the W3C has gone off so far into esoteria-land it's become impossible to comply with all the standards? What about taking into consideration the REAL world of web users? Is it really an issue of standards, or is the underlying issue really Microsoft-bashing?

All I know is I'm sick to death of having to make CSS work in every flipping browser out there. For neurotwitch, I decided to hell with it, I coded for IE because, frankly, the vast majority of visitors to not just this site, but to ALL sites, visit with IE browsers.

The W3C CSS standards have become limitations because I cannot use so many of them and have any hope at keeping all of my clients' sites up to date and compliant. CSS is supposed to make my job easier -- but all it has done is make my job a hell of a lot harder. Sure, I would love it if every browser was completely compliant with whatever crap the W3C decides to issue--but it's never going to happen.
posted by lee on 02/19/03 at 05:17 PM

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