[thelist] RE: the standards thread

Ken Schaefer ken at adOpenStatic.com
Thu Jul 8 20:47:38 CDT 2004


As I mentioned before, there seems to be some confusion between:
a) crappy code
b) standards adherence.
It seems, for example from the post below, that the use of "standards
compliant" code will suddenly make crappy tag soup disappear.

Whilst, in general, those who argue for standards adherence have a greater
understanding of /what/ HTML/CSS is all about, and thus produce cleaner
code, there is no direct causality between standards-compliant code, and
elegant code. It is stil entirely possible to produce /standards-compliant/
tag-soup with levels of nested tables (for example). Or to have something
that consists of Microsoft Word 2000 garbage, that still validates.

To reiterate: there is no place for crappy code.

Standards compliance, on the other hand depends on:
a) examining various business drivers
b) deciding on a standard to implement.

The two are, whilst inter-related, not directly causally related. Do not
fall into the trap of thinking that standards compliance automatically makes
your code "elegant", or "non-crappy".

Cheers
Ken

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mr. Tenuta" <dtportnoy at videotron.ca>
Subject: Re: [thelist] RE: the standards thread


: Great applaud to such an amazing discussion.
:
: I'm starting to strengthen my base as a web designer/programmer and have
: learned so much already just by joining evolt. This discussion on
: standardization has really opened my eyes. As I began to be more aware of
: these standards I wondered if they were really all that important, and
well,
: I am convinced they are.
:
: I have already done work with crappy, lazy, messy, non-standard code and
boy
: what a mess. I just wasn't aware at the time on what standardization
brings
: to the table.
:
: Personally, I would push my clients towards complying with the standards,
: but if they were to reject the proposition it would be their loss. At the
: end of the day I know I tried and well either way I'll get payed.
:
: Thanks for the insight everyone!
: Sincerely,
: Lawrence
:
: neoDesignz
: http://www.neodesignz.com



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