Neither IE or NN come close to adhering to the HTML standards. Both have insisted on implementing their own proprietary tags while ignoring some of the most basic elements in the standards. The META and LINK tags are two examples that come to mind. Both implement these, but not as the W3C recommendations designed them and they perversely restrict you to using just ONE(!) LINK attribute. The META tag is designed for use by more than just search engines!

Both browsers mangle the use of established tags, for instance by allowing use of the H1-H6 tags inside other elements (ADDRESS comes to mind). The H1-H6 elements are designed for headings, just that. Many web authoring tools accurately use the H elements to generate TOC's (a tedious process to do by hand), and the failure of both major browsers to adhere to the standards creates havoc. The H1-H6 tags affect all text enclosed within the element! Imagine the TOC that get generated when the H elements are used to indiscriminately bold or highlight text!

I could go on and on. So... neither browser is a friend of the web author or internet traveler. One of the reason web design (good web design) is so expensive is the redundancy required in writing two or three sets of html, depending upon what version of browser the viewer happens to be using.

While NN and IE continue to play their games, browsers like Opera are steadily listening to the html authoring world and adhering to and implementing the W3C standards consistently while allowing different OS's to view html as the W3C envisioned it, not as IE or NN wish it to be.

Kai Davis, 1998-11-25