RE: Why Doesn't IE5 use the DTD to Validate?

Hi Ed,

     <YourComment>
So you assume the error is with the DTD? Not with the processing thereof?
>From what I've seen relating to IE5 on this list in the last week or so, I'd
be as suspicious of IE5's conformance and bug-free-ness as anything else.
<Yourcomment>

<Reply>
We have to be cautious. This could be indeed be the intention of some.
Remember that these days it is a national sport among developers to do
Microsoft bashing. If we try to be as objective as possible, we should keep
to the facts. The validation, non validation problem is not only reduced to
Microsoft but also concern Mozilla. We have to determine a mechanism
flexible enough to forgive errors that _will_ occurs and still allow more
formal document interpretation especially in the electronic commerce field.

My opinion:
IE 5.x has bugs so will Mozilla. period. The rest is only a question of
religion or a question to be regulated by the federal government.
The validating DTD is a question to be resolved. Here are the issues:
a) a DTD could be used by an author just for external references (this could
be the author's intent to not have the document validated at the receiving
end but use the DTD to include external references)
b) A DTD could be used for structural validation check. Especially for
e-commerce where structural integrity of the document is important. I am not
talking here of simple equivalent to HTML forms but Domain Specific
Languages implementations like CBL, CMLEDI, etc... In that case, rendition
is not the only criteria. Document's integrity is also important.

The need for validation is domain specific and not for the Web at large.
Now, How do we tell the browser to put the validation switch ON or OFF (look
at a previous message where I explained the problem).
</Reply>

Regards
Didier PH Martin
mailto:martind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.netfolder.com

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