Re:The evolution of the web, and a eulogy for XHTML2
by jillesvangurp on Sunday October 27, 2019 @09:40AM
(#21369615)
Exactly, browser manufacturers had a need for specifications that were of a higher quality than what W3C was producing in order to address (mostly) accidental implementation differences between different browsers. What was specified across existing specifications for html, css, and javascript was just not covering what was being shipped by browsers. And as these specifications were stuck in committees, browser developers had to just figure things out themselves.
HTML 5 started out as an W3C position paper to start the work of creating a backwards compatible successor to HTML 4 backed by several browser developers. The proposal for this was rejected in favor of continuing work on the non backwards compatible XHTML 2. As these browser developers had a need for a spec, the WHATWG was formed to create what became HTML 5.
Several years later when it became clear that their specification was the closest thing to describing what browsers actually do, W3C basically endorsed it as a recommendation. However, the WHATWG continues to drive work as it has been highly successful in producing the high quality specifications required to achieve the high levels of interoperability between the remaining browser engines.
XHTML 2 gradually became redundant as most of the functionality that web site developers actually needed from browsers got absorbed by HTML 5. As browsers could implement spec changes as they were happening, within a few years of the working group forming, it had become a huge success in standardizing many new features.
At the same time, many mobile browsers simply disappeared as Webkit (a fork of KTML by Apple) and the Chrome fork of Webkit by Google became the norm on mobile. This was important because many W3C working groups were dominated by people from the mobile phone and telecom industry seeking to control the standard for long forgotten things like WAP and the various mobile profiles of XHTML. Once decent browsers appeared on mobile (i.e. browsers that supported HTML 5), the need to continue to do work on XHTML 2 disappeared. Most of the companies that then dominated the mobile web were out competed by Google and Apple; neither of whom was a major mobile player at the time the WhatWG was formed. By the time W3C endorsed HTML 5, Android and IOS were dominating the mobile web to the point that even MS threw in the towel by first creating Edge (an html 5 browser with no backwards compatibility for IE specific stuff), and then recently just switching to Chrome entirely.
HTML 5 started out as an W3C position paper to start the work of creating a backwards compatible successor to HTML 4 backed by several browser developers. The proposal for this was rejected in favor of continuing work on the non backwards compatible XHTML 2. As these browser developers had a need for a spec, the WHATWG was formed to create what became HTML 5.
Several years later when it became clear that their specification was the closest thing to describing what browsers actually do, W3C basically endorsed it as a recommendation. However, the WHATWG continues to drive work as it has been highly successful in producing the high quality specifications required to achieve the high levels of interoperability between the remaining browser engines.
XHTML 2 gradually became redundant as most of the functionality that web site developers actually needed from browsers got absorbed by HTML 5. As browsers could implement spec changes as they were happening, within a few years of the working group forming, it had become a huge success in standardizing many new features.
At the same time, many mobile browsers simply disappeared as Webkit (a fork of KTML by Apple) and the Chrome fork of Webkit by Google became the norm on mobile. This was important because many W3C working groups were dominated by people from the mobile phone and telecom industry seeking to control the standard for long forgotten things like WAP and the various mobile profiles of XHTML. Once decent browsers appeared on mobile (i.e. browsers that supported HTML 5), the need to continue to do work on XHTML 2 disappeared. Most of the companies that then dominated the mobile web were out competed by Google and Apple; neither of whom was a major mobile player at the time the WhatWG was formed. By the time W3C endorsed HTML 5, Android and IOS were dominating the mobile web to the point that even MS threw in the towel by first creating Edge (an html 5 browser with no backwards compatibility for IE specific stuff), and then recently just switching to Chrome entirely.