HTML Email Revisited

[Simon Bowring]

To illustrate the compatibility problems with HTML email, and the
problems associated with "allowing" MS to dicate the direction of
email programs, contrary to standards...

It's already very hard to author "cross-browser" or 
"cross-email-package" HTML, but it just got a whole lot 
harder...

Simon
--
For Immediate Release

Contact --

Jeffrey Zeldman Group Leader jeffrey@zeldman.com +1.212.725.0847

Simon St. Laurent simonstl@simonstl.com +1.607.277.0167

Dori Smith dori@chalcedony.com +1.707.473.0398



WEB STANDARDS PROJECT BLASTS MICROSOFT'S "ARROGANT" BREAK WITH
STANDARDS

http://www.webstandards.org/ -- 10 April 2000 -- The Web
Standards Project (WaSP) today denounced Internet Explorer 5.5
Windows Edition for abandoning Web standards Microsoft has
publicly committed to supporting, and focusing on proprietary
technologies which are certain to fragment the already-troubled
Web space.

"We are incensed by Microsoft's arrogance, and perplexed by its
schizophrenic decision to support standards on one platform while
undercutting them on another," said Web Standards Project group
leader Jeffrey Zeldman.

The group is outraged by Microsoft's decision not to support key
W3C standards, notably the DOM Level 1 core and portions of the
CSS1 specification, in the market-leading Windows version of its
Internet Explorer browser. Microsoft's reversal will make it
nearly impossible for Web developers to create documents that
adhere to Web standards. At the same time, the proprietary
technology that Microsoft is providing may lure some developers
deeper into functionality that is supported on only one browser
and one operating system - Microsoft's.

"This approach mocks the dream of 'code once, read anywhere' that
has driven so much of the Web's success," said WaSP Steering
Committee member Simon St.Laurent. "By 'innovating' ahead of the
W3C (http://www.w3.org) in areas like Cascading Style Sheets
behaviors while leaving large chunks of standardized processing
and styling unsupported, Microsoft risks creating even more
complicated browser incompatibilities than already exist."

"The Web community has waited for more than four years for
Microsoft to fulfill their long-standing pledge to fully adhere
to W3C-issued Recommendations," said WaSP Steering Committee
member Sally Khudairi. "The collective patience of both users and
developers is running out: why should anyone settle for Web pages
that work on only one browser, on one platform and on a limited
set of devices?"

The group pointed out that Microsoft itself helped create many of
the standards it appears to be abandoning in IE5.5/Windows, and
noted with bitter irony that Microsoft's newly released
IE5/Macintosh Edition does a masterful job of supporting key Web
standards. "Do they want us to code for the standards-compliant
Macintosh version, or the incomplete - but dominant - Windows
version?" Zeldman demanded.

"By casting aside standards, Microsoft is making it more
difficult, if not impossible, to create Web pages that would be
accessible on a variety of devices and platforms," said WaSP
steering committee member Dori Smith. "This hurts a wide variety
of Web users, from the executive using a Web-enabled cell phone
to a visually impaired senior citizen."

Added Zeldman: "Coming on the heels of Netscape's preview
release, it's hard not to view this as exactly the kind of
'predatory' behavior the U.S. Justice Department laid at
Microsoft's door. If Microsoft, as the dominant player, undercuts
Web standards on its prevailing Windows platform, developers will
be helplessly spun in Microsoft's direction, killing  the dream
of a Web that is accessible to everyone."