Comments on: Question: what makes standards succeed? http://www.rnib.org.uk/wacblog/standards/question-what-makes-standards-succeed/ Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:08:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Ozbon http://www.rnib.org.uk/wacblog/standards/question-what-makes-standards-succeed/#comment-50822 Ozbon Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:17:53 +0000 http://www.rnib.org.uk/wacblog/policy/question-what-makes-standards-succeed/#comment-50822 Much as I hate myself for saying it, one of the big steps - with internet standards at least - is to get Microsoft to be behind the standard (rather than using one of their own). MS is still the biggest OS (by a significant margin) and IE is the biggest browser (which makes me despair, but there we go) - if IE were actually standards compliant, most websites would be written to be IE compatible and thus standards compatible. Making IE into an MS-Standard is the primary reason so many other standards (accessibility in particular) fall by the wayside. With the biggest market share, most companies still don't give a stuff if their site is standards compliant, so long as it works in IE. I always work to make sure my sites do both, but commercially it'll always be "IE" that takes precedence instead of "standards" until/unless MS adopt the same standards as everyone else. Sad (and possibly heretical) but still true. Much as I hate myself for saying it, one of the big steps - with internet standards at least - is to get Microsoft to be behind the standard (rather than using one of their own).

MS is still the biggest OS (by a significant margin) and IE is the biggest browser (which makes me despair, but there we go) - if IE were actually standards compliant, most websites would be written to be IE compatible and thus standards compatible.

Making IE into an MS-Standard is the primary reason so many other standards (accessibility in particular) fall by the wayside. With the biggest market share, most companies still don’t give a stuff if their site is standards compliant, so long as it works in IE. I always work to make sure my sites do both, but commercially it’ll always be “IE” that takes precedence instead of “standards” until/unless MS adopt the same standards as everyone else.

Sad (and possibly heretical) but still true.

]]> By: Henny http://www.rnib.org.uk/wacblog/standards/question-what-makes-standards-succeed/#comment-45755 Henny Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:42:31 +0000 http://www.rnib.org.uk/wacblog/policy/question-what-makes-standards-succeed/#comment-45755 Thanks Jack and Jean for your thoughts, couldn't agree with you more. Looks like standards are on a lot of people's minds today as it is <a href="http://www.webstandards.org/2007/11/23/wear-the-blue-beanie-with-pride/" rel="nofollow">Blue Beanie Day</a> - a day for promoting web standards by wearing a blue beanie. I also stumbled acorss this artical <a href="http://lawver.net/archive/2007/11/12/h17_web_standards_three_buckets_of_pain.php" rel="nofollow">Web Standards - Three Buckets of Pain</a> also inspired by the talks help at the November W3C Technical Plenary. Worth a read. Thanks Jack and Jean for your thoughts, couldn’t agree with you more. Looks like standards are on a lot of people’s minds today as it is Blue Beanie Day - a day for promoting web standards by wearing a blue beanie.

I also stumbled acorss this artical Web Standards - Three Buckets of Pain also inspired by the talks help at the November W3C Technical Plenary. Worth a read.

]]> By: Jean S http://www.rnib.org.uk/wacblog/standards/question-what-makes-standards-succeed/#comment-45267 Jean S Thu, 22 Nov 2007 13:39:09 +0000 http://www.rnib.org.uk/wacblog/policy/question-what-makes-standards-succeed/#comment-45267 The standards have to be from a reputable source so that they can be trusted to have been thought out and tested. If I'm to sell them to my peers and advise they be adopted I need to know they're worth adopting. The standards have to be from a reputable source so that they can be trusted to have been thought out and tested. If I’m to sell them to my peers and advise they be adopted I need to know they’re worth adopting.

]]> By: JackP http://www.rnib.org.uk/wacblog/standards/question-what-makes-standards-succeed/#comment-44112 JackP Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:11:53 +0000 http://www.rnib.org.uk/wacblog/policy/question-what-makes-standards-succeed/#comment-44112 The standards have to be clear, at least <em>relatively</em> concise (e.g. WCAG 2 isn't, but the quick reference document serves as a concise version), but above all they have to be <strong>useful</strong>. It also helps if there is either a carrot (my site will be better if I adopt these standards) or a stick (nasty thing <em>X</em> will happen if I don't adopt these standards). The standards have to be clear, at least relatively concise (e.g. WCAG 2 isn’t, but the quick reference document serves as a concise version), but above all they have to be useful.

It also helps if there is either a carrot (my site will be better if I adopt these standards) or a stick (nasty thing X will happen if I don’t adopt these standards).

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