Jim Ray (a helluva guy, for the record), explains why the new MSNBC.com pages don’t have a DOCTYPE leading off their source. What you’ll learn from reading it is that the people currently at MSNBC.com care deeply about standards and doing things the right way, but are handcuffed by some legacy code and tools. They’re working on it, and they’ll get their eventually.
As you know if you read this site regularly, one of my biggest pet peeves is people getting attacked for less-than-perfect HTML when its obvious they’re trying. One look at MSNBC.com’s source will show a marked improvement from the past, and a clear attempt at doing the best they possibly can. The fact that anyone would direct their standardista wrath and folks who are trying their best when there are still people not trying at all really irritates me.
http://alphachannel.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/11/15/469266.aspx
001 // Brad McGonigle // 11.19.2007 // 3:23 PM
Very nice read and I can feel their pain. Too many times am I restricted due to something completely beyond my control and as a coder who strives for clean and efficient code…I often want to stab my eyes with forks.
The best you can do sometimes is to push and push as far as the restricting party will go and then just improve for future versions.