Errata for HTML: The Definitive Guide

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..."