The Trouble With Web Standards, Part 2: Top-Down Doesn't Work

When I first got into SGML, about 15 years ago, I remember someone remarking that to write a fully conforming parser you would have to “have the resources of the U.S. government or be James Clark.” This was both an indication of James’s incredible hacking chops and his dedication to making SGML a success (and [...]

Is Web Standardization Obsolete?

Most people seem to labor under the misconception that web standardization is a well-regimented, orderly process with a clear set of rules. In particular, the uninitiated believe that the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the anointed standards body for the web. Vendors get together, agree on some new markup or scripting language that eventually [...]