Although Netscape has indeed been bad for HTML, it's *not* because
of those inconsequential extensions everyone keeps harping on. The
real damage is a result of Netscape's releasing powerful viewing
software without offering any correspondingly powerful authoring
tools.
As thousands of uncertain novices wrote HTML by hand, tweaking
their monstrosities until they finally looked OK in Netscape, the
current mess was created. In other words, a large fraction of the
existing HTML pages are using *unofficial* HTML extensions implicit
in the Netscape implementation. It's those extensions -- not
publicly specified stuff like <FONT> -- that have degraded the value
of the HTML standard for new entrants into the Web software market.
The simple fact that Microsoft is pushing automatic authoring tools
means they will have a positive impact. At least the mistakes will
be consistent. :-)
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Paul Burchard <[email protected]>
``I'm still learning how to count backwards from infinity...''
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