: Re: browsing vs validation, or, why not to make software robust

Charles Henrich (henrich@crh.cl.msu.edu)
Wed, 18 Aug 1993 20:04:27 -0400 (EDT)


Really a browser should handle "bad" html in any way the author see's fit.
Garbage In, Garbage Out No? As long as a browser can parse, and properly
display valid HTML (HTML+) the browser does as it should, and there should be
no complaints. In fact browsers that dont barf and dump core on bad HTML is a
good thing! Why should Mosaic (or any browser) inform users of bad HTML? As
someone who is using the web (not creating documents) I dont want to see error
messages when the browser is parsing "bad" html. I dont care. The author is
the one responsible for good HTML, and as such should have tools such as an
html-lint available to them. However, "lint" inside a HTML browser is
uneccesary, and from a user point of view, unwanted.

-Crh

Charles Henrich Michigan State University henrich@crh.cl.msu.edu

http://rs560.msu.edu:82/afsmsu/user/h/e/henrich/public/web/henrich.html