Crazy Apple News Site

Every Friday¹ we publish a list of inFrequently Asked Questions and answers to help you, the Crazy Apple user, get more out of your Crazy Apple products.

This week we’re as excited as you are to know that WebKit is the first browser to pass the Acid3 test. Let’s talk about that, shall we?

Q: What is Acid3?

A: It’s a comprehensive test of a browser’s ability to render (X)HTML² , CSS, and JavaScript according to the official standards set out by the W3C.

Q: That’s a lot of letters that don’t mean anything.

A: The better you do on the Acid3 test, the more Sir Tim Berners-Lee likes your browser.

Q: So what does this mean for the Mac?

A: Nothing.

Q: The PC?

A: Nothing.

Q: The iPhone? The G1?

A: Nothing and really nothing, respectively. Look, all that happened is that the latest experimental version of Safari’s rendering engine has done better than anyone else so far at meeting standards compliance. This version of WebKit isn’t shipping with any current browser, and probably won’t for at least 6 months.  But the big problem is getting sites to be standards compliant.

Q: Why is that?

A: Because web designers write code that works on Internet Explorer, which has an Acid3 score of 21 out of 100.

Q: So what can I, a concerned Netizen, do to combat this menace?

A: 1.) never, in print or in person, say “Netizen” again. 2.) Run up to your congressman, representitive, tribal leader, king, president, or suprieme overlord and say, “I FAVOR OPEN WEB STANDARDS” at the top of your lungs, then see how far away you can get before their bodyguards take you down.

Q: And that will help, will it?

A: No, but it’d be funny.

Q: I’m an American living in the Netherlands; how do I say that it Dutch?

A: Ik keur heb gebonden niet de norm van World Wide Web goed

Q:”I like not has bound the stand of World Wide Web good?”

A: It’s not a perfect translation.

Q: One of us hasn’t been getting enough sleep lately.

A: Zzzzzzzzz…

1. more or less. Around Friday [↩]
2. the X is given “Separate but equal” housing [↩]