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Comment by greut | Hacker News Reader

The evolution of the web technologies is an organic growth that won't be stopped in time to say "HTML5 certified". Browser vendors are pushing innovations through other medium than the W3C (which sometimes causes problem) and but what's needed is driven by the applications (that's why people like facebook are pushing test suites like Ringmark). Looking at browsers using only the HTML5 perspective is sort of restrictive as people and application developers may have other needs either high-tech (NaCl, 3D) or slow-tech (assistive technologies). No browsers can do it 100% right because nobody will ever agree on what those 100% are now and in the future.

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It's not about stopping the evolution of web technologies, as you say, it's about guaranteeing a minimum baseline of features that we can be sure is going to be present. A minimum target that you can count on. Most sites have no need for the advanced features you mention, but if they do then there's nothing to stop them requiring that support, and browser manufacturers will certainly keep rolling out new features as they fight for market share. In the end, it's about moving the baseline forward.

> The evolution of the web technologies is an organic growth that won't be stopped in time to say "HTML5 certified".

At the same time now you have a way to say "When I say HTML 5 I refer to these features, at least". Without a spec fixed in stone it is hard to say "I want to use a browser that does HTML 5".

Without fixed specs we are currently regressing to pre-2000 sites "optimized for" a certain browser; "Sorry, this site works only with Chrome" is a common sight on Show HN submissions, but also on sites for a more common audience. With the comeback of something that resemble a fixed spec, let's call it a snapshot spec, this situation may get better, or, at least, not get worse.

100% spec implementation doesnt stop innovation. One browser vendor just needs to respect the spec. If ones want to add more features then i dont see how respecting makes innovation hard. You can still build on top of the spec. Just respect it.

But it is my duty as a web developer to ensure the features i use will be available widely , i dont want to get trapped into this on that plateform , while other major browsers will never implement some "innovative" features.

So innovation if you want, but i care only about stability.

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