[thelist] Re: Hn tags

jcanfield at magisnetworks.com jcanfield at magisnetworks.com
Tue Jun 25 14:55:01 CDT 2002


My contention, all other arguments aside, is that slavish adherence to the
rules *just because they're rules* is counterproductive. It's no different
from viewing a dictionary as a rulebook on spelling and meaning. It's *not*;
it's merely a snapshot of the current (well, at the time of printing) status
of a living thing, a language.

The W3C provides the guidelines which user agents ought to follow in order
to properly interpret the stuff we write. It does *not* tell me how to
intelligently (or aesthetically) structure my information to be forward
compatible or even to be as useful as possible in the present.

We sometimes have to use tables to display non-tabular data, because it's
what works. We sometimes have to use an <h3> after an <h1> without an
intervening <h2> because that's what the task at hand calls for.

When the browsers perfectly interpret what the W3C says, and when the W3C is
an authority on writing as well as Internet User Agents, I'll probably
advocate closer adherence at this level, just as I advocate using styles
instead of <font> tags and stuff like that.

joel



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