Posted by John Dunlop on 10/27/06 08:17

Gérard Talbot:

> John Dunlop wrote:
>
> > but functionality isn't rendered. The HTML *document* is
> > rendered, rendered according to the *user-agent*.
>
> Correct.

Fine, but...

> > Who is to say what counts as 'rendered as expected'? Expected by who?
>
> By the web author.

Well, that's their prerogative, but why would they hold expectations
about how their document will be rendered if they realise that
documents are rendered according to the user-agent? It is impossible,
for example, to know how a document will be rendered by a user-agent on
a platform or medium that is beyond your ken.

> > If someone takes it upon themselves to prescribe and proscribe
> > different renderings, who granted them the authority to do so?
>
> W3C.

See my responses to Ben C.

> Let me give you an example, a real one. Just today, I dealt with someone
> who had this in his webpage:
>
> <DIV style="position: absolute; top: 220 px; left: 20px; ">... some
> image ...</DIV>

Imagine a user-agent where (spatial) position makes no sense; imagine a
user-agent where stylesheets are off; imagine a user-agent that doesn't
support absolute positioning; imagine a user-agent who only reads the
HTML document because all author and user stylesheets have been
removed; imagine a user-agent with images off; imagine a user-agent
that doesn't support images. I am sure there are countless scenarios
beyond my imagination.

> Content and navigation must always be ensured when designing.

Sound advice.

> Presentation and formatting as intended by the author can not be
> ensured though.

Agreed.

--
Jock

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