Re: color: NCSA Mosaic, Netscape, and HTML3

Mike Batchelor ([email protected])
Tue, 18 Jul 1995 11:02:03 -0400 (EDT)

Ian S. Graham once wrote...
>
> >
> > < Jack Beslanwitch once wrote...
> > < >
> > < > Mike,
> > < > I could be wrong about this, but I seem to remember that the body
> > < > background elements including the text colors elements implemented in
> > < > Netscape are in the html 3.0 dtd or at least one of them that I read. The
> > < > main elements that are clearly not in the dtd are blink and embed. Again, I
> > < > could be wrong on this, but I believe this to be so.
> > <
> > < I just checked the DTD again, and the only BODY attribute is background,
> > < which indicates a URI for a texture tile for the document background. No
> > < text colors, link colors, vlink colors, etc. Yet the NCSA WinMosaic pages
> > < say they all are part of HTML v3.
> >
> > Yes. Infact, the english spec (rather than the DTD) states that text colors
> > *MAY* need to be adjusted, but earlier on it says that background is only
> > for the benefit of clients that do not support style sheets.
> >
> > I.e. Style sheets are the right way.
> >
> > Netscape color extensions (like many other netscape extensions) are hot air
> > and presumptiously defined.
> >
> > Unfortunately, style sheets are still being defined :)
>
> Hmm.... so something that is implemented, operational and popular is "hot air",
> while "still being defined" stylesheets are not???

I don't have a problem with NCSA implementing the Netscape <body>
attributes in the new WinMosaic. I have a problem with them documenting
them as being part of HTML v3.0, when they clearly are not. NCSA is
considered an authority by many people on things to do with the WWW. It's
unfortunate enough that Netscape is disseminating mis-information to
bolster its bottom line, at the expense of the Web as a whole. That NCSA
is contributing to the trend of fragmenting the Web into vendor-specific
ghettos is doubly unfortunate. I just wrote them a note pointing out the
error, and kindly asking them to correct it to reflect the true status of
the HTML v3 DTD.

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