Software That Ignores Standards

SoftwareThatIgnoresStandards is a complicated issue at best. The standards referred to are generally set by the WorldWideWebConsortium and the ignoring companies are usually larger developers. Infamous amongst Web designers for its non-adherence to standards is InternetExplorer, at this time the most widely used browser for the MicrosoftWindows operating system. It is a common view that while Internet Explorer is not perfect it should be continued to be developed - or fixed, as some more accurately put it.

With internet explorer dominating the browser market upwards of 90%, it seems to be the standard. The w3c and all the other browsers should simply adopt the IE DOM. While I find the gecko DOM technically superior, it's basically worthless because it isn't used by enough users. IE is the standard, period, it sucks but that's reality.

There are many, many other pieces of software that display a blatant disregard for Web standards, sometimes with good reason. An example of this is the difficulty of developers in using the XsltLanguage - while the principles behind it are beautiful, the actual language can be cumbersome and unwieldy, sometimes completely inapplicable for the task. Many other companies have developed work-around solutions for some of the inbuilt problems of some Web standards, however most SoftwareThatIgnoresStandards does so for little or no legitimate reason.

Unfortunately, the BrowserWars has merely changed clothes and battleground, now being waged by individual developers attempting to spread the 'correct' way to go about things, and other developers who (through either ignorance of Web standards or an often ill-founded dislike of them) refuse to adhere, and go their own way.

Neither party is right or wrong, as organic development of software (see EvolutionaryArchitecture) is a naturally occurring process; the only way which one can tell what was right or wrong is when it works or when it doesn't.

Well, some standards frankly stink. Sometimes a little capitalism is needed to cull the best parts of standards. The best standards usually come from small groups who come up with an idea and "flavor" that is catchy, simple, and works. When consortums try to set standards, they quite often create a mess that only a mother could love.

[Mar 2011] Note that recent testing of HTML5 compliance puts IE8 ahead of the crowd, but this is "undocumented" testing with a beta version. We'll see.

CategoryInternet