Re: [MACCAWS] browsers? No, user agents.

Isn't one of the core benefits of standards compliance that virtually all
clients will be supported out of the box?

In terms of how "suits" (which is terminology I think we should drop, as it
may be a little demeaning) will react to the argument for standards
compliance..  Add your arguments to the list...

On the positive side, I hear:

* Accessibility
* Ease of reuse
* Future resistance
* Flexible layout and decreased development time
* Easier integration with dynamic environments
* The ability to serve pages to any client (call them user agents if you
want to, but I think client is a better term)
* Exposes almost all page elements to scripts, introducing reliable dynamic
pages
* Active development community
* The love of your frontend development staff

On the negative side:

* Manager's and their dollars have had a lot of pain from folks who talk
about "browser support"
* It takes some time and serious effort to learn how to implement standards
(and "standard's hacks")
* Your pages, while readable, won't look pixel perfect on older browsers
* If coded properly, text sizes, and perhaps designs will not always be
pixel perfect (yes, this is a major issue for some corporations)

And, on another note (please delete this from reply unless you are replying
to is specifically ;-) ::

The user agent is kind of thinking a little granularly isn't it?  I mean, a
user agent is technically "A component of a distributed system that presents
an interface and processes requests on behalf of a user; for example, a www
browser or a mail user agent."
(http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html-spec/html-spec_2.html#GLOSS36). So, while it
is technically correct, it's by definition a referral to the general class
of devices or device used to access anything in a distibuted system.  I
think it has it's place, but that's a lot more general than "browser" or
"user" or my absolute favorite "client" (implying a transactional system,
where the client is served, such as httpd transactions) and I think it could
lead to confusion for no reason.

That's my 2c.  I'm sure you'll all just shoot me down again.  *sigh*  ;-)

Jonathan