From: Oli Filth said:
Organization: NTL
Newsgroups: alt.html
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2005 02:43:54 GMT
Subject: Re: [HELP] How to align DIV in the center?
I really wonder which idiot has decided that <center> is obsolete and
gave us wonderful solution - style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
IMHO this is a pure idiocy and no wonder M$ doesn't want to fix the
problem, if for them that new idiotic idea is the real problem.
Maybe because it was never really a valid tag in the first place (only
included in the HTML 3.2 spec because lots of sites were using it
already). <CENTER> should rightly not be an HTML tag, because HTML is
about the semantics of the content, not the layout. Centre-alignment has
nothing to do with semantics.
Just check how it works. Only my idea is working properly and validates.
Not in (X)HTML Strict it doesn't.
And frankly I don't give a shit if validates (It does) or is deprecated
or not. The goal is achieved and code is working without any hacks.
Well, yes <CENTER> is a hack too. You're using a non-existent HTML tag
which many browsers just happen to support. That sounds like a hack to
me. No guarantee that a future browser will support it. Then your page
will look like shit.
Can be done in 10 seconds.
Sorry but using hacks is a huge step backwards.
So is using deprecated HTML.
This issue is not going to go away. The idea of separating the semantics
from the style is a nice idea and it can be done and it has many advantages.
But there is a level of complexity and difficulty associated with its
implementation. (analogy: I remember a Basic program called QuickBasic which
was a lot of fun to use because it was so forgiving of slack code hurriedly
written to give quick results, for later classier work one needed to use
FutureBasic which became much more strict. Like having a strict and cruel
sounding stepmom around then! (on a Mac)).
Those who are irritated by the need for rigour are often understandably
missing that thing of being able to write html on the fly in a simple manner
and this is understandable, having to be held to a higher standard takes a
lot of the fun out of things for a lot of the less able or rigorous and
patient types. I am not arguing here the merits. If I had to side with one
of these trends, I would have to back rigour given the number of different
platforms and computer types. But I would be rather sympathetic to the
formal allowance of easy style tags in the html for those who want to write
thus. Simpler than the inline css constructions. Like the center tag and the
font tag and whatever so many people like to use easily. I guess I am
arguing here for the retention for a long time of the 3.2 and 4 standards
for browsers. And if the amateurs are irritated by the strictness of later
standards, they may not feel the pressure to use it. There is a
psychological pressure to deprecation!
Professionals need not worry, they should hold to higher standards. Let the
old tags, the deprecated ones and the banned ones (in later xhtml0) run free
and it be the mark of the amateur. Pros can simply refuse to deal with such
code. Let the master mechanics use the proper tool for the job, let the
amateur use a shifter to hammer things in when they feel like it...
Perhaps there should be a newsgroup for html for the pros, rigour being the
philosophy and leave the amateurs some standing, an area where they are not
constantly belittled and themselves irritated like hell. Let them have 3.2
and 4.
dorayme
(probably just an amateur at heart even tho he does make a sort of a living
from it and tries to rise to higher standards...)
