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Why Browsers Haven't Standardized
Page 2 —
Browser Companies Aren't Really Out to Get You
As it happens, these browser companies are following the
standards process. Although this isn't widely realized, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) encourages
browser companies to
"innovate" - essentially, to act as test markets for new features and
technologies. This allows users and Working Groups
(committees within the W3C that actually define the standards)
to evaluate different solutions to a given problem and try out draft
specifications in the "real world" to see how they perform. The Working
Group can then decide which solutions work the best and then put those in
the W3C standards. Unfortunately, in addition to providing a playing field
for experimentation, browser companies are also expected to fully and
completely implement published standards once they reach the status of Recommendation,
and not ship browsers which violate said standards.
So browser companies are supposed to help test new technologies by
implementing them, then modify or throw away the parts that don't agree
with the finalized specification, in spite of the fact that the definition
of a given behavior may change after a browser version has
shipped. Can you imagine building a house with wood supports only to
find out you must replace all the supports with metal beams?
Therein lies much of the problem with standards compliance: It's far too
easy for things to change right up until the last minute (or even later). That
might be convenient for the authors of the specifications, but it's murder
on the programming team at a browser company. And unless the current
process changes, things aren't going to get any better.
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