“Validation” and Quirks Mode
It has been suggested that it's theoretically “impossible” for bees to fly. Yet, of course, they do; which illustrates that practical realities are more important than theoretical predictions.
Practicality Over Theory
“Quirks Mode” carries the advantage of being more fault tolerant. If a web page is configured for quirks mode, but you make minor formatting mistakes, it looks good anyway! What's more important—whether the page actually does look good, or whether it meets somebody's theoretical rules about whether it “should”?We believe that a practical outcome is more important than a theoretical concept. So if a page looks great and works perfectly in all the popular browsers, but “validation” software calls the page “invalid”—don't let it worry you.
The Value of Fault Tolerance
“Strict Mode” requires a web page to follow precise formatting rules, and if it doesn't, then it may not display at all. That makes strict mode risky. Using strict mode also requires a highly-trained web professional to perform even the most routine web content updates. That's just fine for larger organizations that can afford a full-time specialist on staff to maintain their websites.However, it is out of reach for small- and medium-sized organizations, where there are no specialists, and everyone pitches in. The same person who answers the phone may also need to work effectively as a web content editor. Therefore, smaller organizations can't be bothered with strict formatting rules that require extensive training; and that makes strict mode a bad choice.
Since most Triskelon clients are small- and medium-sized organizations, and we consider practical robust performance most important, our solutions feature “quirks mode”, because it's fault tolerant.
