just before the bulleted list:

HTML 4.0 Is Not the Definitive Standard!

Depending on our mood, when people ask us about the new HTML 4.0
"standard", we respond with a groan, a bemused smile, or uproarious
laughter. Folks, HTML 4.0 isn't a standard; it is where HTML 3.2 was
just before it became The Standard. Web foundations are not
shaking. In fact, the new language definition simply confirms what
most Web observers have known for some time now, that the commercial
browser manufacturers are the tail wagging the HTML standards dog.

Until about mid-1996, people actually were serious about HTML
standards. (Some of us still are.) Until then, standards guided the
development of new browsers. After release of HTML 2.0, however, the
elders of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) responsible for such
language-standards matters lost control. The abortive HTML+ standard
never got off the ground, and HTML 3.0 became so bogged down in debate
that the W3C simply shelved the entire draft standard.

What mired the development of new language standards was Netscape
Navigator. Most Web analysts agree that Netscape's quick success in
becoming the browser of choice for an overwhelming majority of users
can be attributed directly to the company's implementation of useful
and exciting additions to HTML. Today, all other browser
manufacturers, in particular the behemoth Microsoft Corp. who
appreciates the meaning of "de facto standard" better than anyone in
the business, have to implement Netscape's HTML extensions if they
expect to have any chance of competing in the Web browser
marketplace. By pushing the W3C to officially release HTML standards,
browser manufacturers gain legitimacy for their products without
having to acknowledge their competitors. Internet Explorer, for
instance, becomes "HTML 4.0-compliant," rather than submissively
"Netscape Navigator-compliant."

The scramble to gain the HTML standards edge will never abate. Like
the current standard, the HTML 4.0 draft is a stewpot of commercial
and academic interests, all bent on adding their distinctive flavoring
to the language. The paradox is that neither HTML 3.2, nor HTML 4.0,
is the definitive source for the language. There are many more
features of HTML in popular use than are included in either the
language standard or its drafted replacement.

This book, on the other hand, is the Definitive Guide to HTML. We give
details for all the elements of the HTML standard, plus the variety of
interesting and useful extensions to the language-some proposed
standards-that the popular browser manufacturers have chosen to
include in their products, such as:

"Incremental point sizes (+2pt, for example) are not currently handled
correctly by any browser."

"Internet Explorer 4 and Netscape 4 support the *normal* and *bold*
values, with Internet Explorer 4 supporting the *lighter* and *bolder*
values as well. Both browsers support the numeric boldness values."

does support..."

not..."

not..."

not..."

border..."

property even when used alone; Internet Explorer 4 only honors this
property if borders are enabled through other border properties."

not..."

supports..."