JEFF: What was your motivation for creating the test suite?
ERIC: Originally, I set up my own set of test pages because I'd been trying
to write stylesheets for my documents and was getting really frustrated by
the inconsistencies I was seeing between browsers. This was back in the days
of Navigator 4 and Explorer 3. I hunted around the Web for information, and
the only page I could find was Braden McDaniel's page on CSS support in the
Windows 95 version of MSIE3. Being a Macintosh user, that didn't really help
me, but there was literally nothing else out there. In a classic case of
over-engineering, I decided that the proper thing to do was create a
complete set of private tests, and then set up my own page documenting CSS
support in the Mac version of MSIE3.
Things just sort of sat there until I was approached by Web Review to
create a site for them where I would document CSS support under both MacOS
and Windows 95. The establishment of that site brought me further into the public
eye, to the point that I was asked to join the CSS&FP Working Group as
an invited expert in the area of conformance testing. Part of that
appointment was the expectation that I would help fulfill the W3C's desire
to create a test suite for CSS.
So I took my test pages, integrated some tests contributed by Hakon and
Tim, refined (or corrected) the suite based on feedback from both the
Working Group and the members of the WWW-style list, reworked the interface
to be as simple as possible, and turned it all into the CSS1 Test Suite.
Through that whole process, my motivation was fairly simple: to provide the
Web community with a resource that just might make their lives easier.
JEFF: What has been the reaction to the suite thus far?
ERIC: Positive, but mild. Most of the feedback was generated on WWW-style,
with people contributing a lot of corrections and ideas, but mostly saying
they thought it was a great idea. Since we announced the suite publicly,
there has been disturbingly little comment. I'm choosing to interpret this
as tacit approval, since it's been my experience that if people on the
Internet don't like something you've done, they'll let you know with
excruciating thoroughness.
JEFF: The suite says, in its introduction, that it "is provided as a way for
vendors and page authors to test their browser's conformance." How have
vendors reacted to the public testing of their conformance?
ERIC: On that score, I know now the sound of single hand clapping - or, to
put it more simply, there has been a deafening silence.
The sum total of vendor reaction to reach me has been a couple of
off-the-record comments that were basically neutral, and one piece of
feedback about a specific test page, which, despite my best efforts, didn't
generate any sort of dialog. This has been my biggest source of
frustration, to be honest. I was hoping that vendors would have some
reaction, either positive or negative, and that would get discussion going
on CSS support now and in the future. No such luck, I'm afraid. Although
they haven't heard the last from me on this issue, I'll tell you that!
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