Re: [docbook-apps] Re: html 5, as a target

[Larry Garfield <larry@garfieldtech.com>]

On Sunday, August 15, 2010 02:35:42 pm Jirka Kosek wrote:

> > structure
> > navigation
> 
> These elements are not supported in IE6/7 and they can't be CSS styled
> there without using supplement Javascript library.

So?  That doesn't mean they are valueless.  There's nothing wrong with using 
those supplemental libraries if appropriate.

And while IE 6 may need Javascript to support them, search engines already 
know all about the new tags...

> This is not well supported by all browsers, usually you have to use some
> additional Javascript library to get MathML support in wider range of
> browsers (http://www.mathjax.org/). (Btw, I hope to integrate support
> for MathJax into stylesheets soon.)

Ibid.

> > Equally, I'm curious to know how far back in the browser chain you'd
> > like to go with docbook support? Netscape?
> 
> IE6 is still very widespread, especially in large corporations. Default
> stylesheets output should definitively work in it.

That varies widely depending on your market.  The main site I use DocBook for 
is 50% Firefox users and less than 2% IE 6; A few months ago I officially 
announced that our software doesn't care about IE 6 any more, and I'm not 
really going to bother with IE 7, either.  That user base is using almost 
entirely modern browsers.

Meanwhile, South Korea is stuck on IE 6 because of all the IE 6-specific 
ActiveX in government and banking web sites.  It varies super widely, even 
though Microsoft would love for IE 6 to die, too.  We're talking about a 
decade-old browser. :-)

You make a valid point that many HTML 5 features are not well supported by the 
existing install base... yet.  There's a chicken and egg question there as 
there always is with a new technology.

So what's the downside of an HTML5-based output option (not required for all 
output, but an option alongside the various other targets) that people can use 
when their particular user base is HTML5-capable enough?  Wouldn't the easy 
availability of such a target help push HTML5 forward by providing more HTML5-
dependent content, creating a demand among users for better HTML5-supporting 
browsers?  That would mean people viewing DocBook output would, when they 
upgrade their browser, poof, get the new hotness because it's already there 
waiting for them?

It seems a sensible idea to me.

--Larry Garfield