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Documenting the Web together

blogs.windows.com

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Re: Documenting the Web together

#51

Post by Egidius »

marksomnian wrote: post #29
Egidius wrote: post #14

For me, as an experienced front-end-focussed developer, MDN has been my go-to website for quick spec references. MDN has all I need to know, and I know my way around. However, I've been in teams where the less-experienced developers went to W3C Schools to see how they should implement some feature. And to be honest, I cannot completely blame them. W3C Schools shows directly what you need to know and how the API you a…

Your comment excellently demonstrates the problem with them: W3Schools is not related to the W3C in any way. Many beginners see the "W3" and think it's an official resource. This is bad.

I never implied that W3C Schools is related to W3C. But I do agree with you: that's bad. But for me that's a public secret. I don't think that's the main reason why I dislike W3C schools, though. My problem with W3C Schools is that they are not the right away to learn web development in a proper way: https://www.impressivewebs.com/w3schools-ugly-bad-good/. MDN holds a far greater standard on a whole lot of aspects: following exact W3C specs, being up to date, design, just to name a few obvious ones.

Re: Documenting the Web together

#52

Post by jsmthrowaway »

dmitriid wrote: post #44
nycdotnet wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting that there is no Apple representation.

Apple never hosted web-related docs, so they probably don’t care.

Sorry, that is not true. Apple documents all of its platforms quite thoroughly, and Safari is one of them. Theirs is simply not an analogue to MDN.

https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Ap...

“Apple doesn’t attempt to document general-purpose Web technologies without an eye on its own platforms” might be a more accurate statement, but even that is shaky because they spent a lot of time explaining HTML5 media while killing Flash.

Re: Documenting the Web together

#53

Post by josefresco »

rainbowmverse wrote: post #24

For the people who have and will comment on how bad w3schools is, Google provides a Chrome extension for blocking domains in search results. https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/new-chrome-extension... I don't know if there's a Firefox version.

Can Google see your own personal list of blocked sites?

Post seems to indicate just that: "One of the signals we're exploring is explicit feedback from users."

Re: Documenting the Web together

#54

Post by rainbowmverse »

josefresco wrote: post #53
rainbowmverse wrote: post #24

For the people who have and will comment on how bad w3schools is, Google provides a Chrome extension for blocking domains in search results. https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/new-chrome-extension... I don't know if there's a Firefox version.

Can Google see your own personal list of blocked sites? Post seems to indicate just that: "One of the signals we're exploring is explicit feedback from users."

They started with it built into search. This was probably a compromise solution to some competing internal concerns.

Re: Documenting the Web together

#55

Post by rodorgas »

Egidius wrote: post #51
marksomnian wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment excellently demonstrates the problem with them: W3Schools is not related to the W3C in any way. Many beginners see the "W3" and think it's an official resource. This is bad.

I never implied that W3C Schools is related to W3C. But I do agree with you: that's bad. But for me that's a public secret. I don't think that's the main reason why I dislike W3C schools, though. My problem with W3C Schools is that they are not the right away to learn web development in a proper way: https://www.impressivewebs.com/w3schools-ugly-bad-good/ . MDN holds a far greater standard on a whole lot of aspects:…

Parent thought you believe W3Schools is related to W3C because you keep calling it "W3C Schools" (it's W3Schools).

Re: Documenting the Web together

#56

Post by briandear »

marksomnian wrote: post #29
Egidius wrote: post #14

For me, as an experienced front-end-focussed developer, MDN has been my go-to website for quick spec references. MDN has all I need to know, and I know my way around. However, I've been in teams where the less-experienced developers went to W3C Schools to see how they should implement some feature. And to be honest, I cannot completely blame them. W3C Schools shows directly what you need to know and how the API you a…

Your comment excellently demonstrates the problem with them: W3Schools is not related to the W3C in any way. Many beginners see the "W3" and think it's an official resource. This is bad.

Most beginners have no idea what W3C is or why they should care.

Re: Documenting the Web together

#57

Post by tambourine_man »

vinhboy wrote: post #36
andy_ppp wrote: post #18

Great, while they are at it can Google please downgrade the extremely spammy w3schools or at least allow me to remove certain websites from my searches. There are so many better resources out there...

I've never understood the hate for w3schools. I've always found them to be extremely useful. I like that usage examples is the focus of their site. I find that more useful than wordy documentations that more advanced references provide.

Yeah, MDN is akin to Unix man pages, W3Schools is more to the point.

They've corrected most of the bad sample code.

Re: Documenting the Web together

#58

Post by Egidius »

rodorgas wrote: post #55
Egidius wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never implied that W3C Schools is related to W3C. But I do agree with you: that's bad. But for me that's a public secret. I don't think that's the main reason why I dislike W3C schools, though. My problem with W3C Schools is that they are not the right away to learn web development in a proper way: https://www.impressivewebs.com/w3schools-ugly-bad-good/ . MDN holds a far greater standard on a whole lot of aspects:…

Parent thought you believe W3Schools is related to W3C because you keep calling it "W3C Schools" (it's W3Schools).

aha... right :D

Re: Documenting the Web together

#59

Post by briandear »

samBergeron wrote: post #33
rand_r wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

w3schools.com is a great resource. I prefer it when I need a quick refresher on an HTML element because it's especially good for having short, simple examples I can copy and paste. MDN tends to be verbose and technical. It's good when you need to know everything in detail, but often I need a quick refresher and a simple example and for that w3schools.com always seems to have better content. Compare these two pages fo…

The whole point of documentation though is for it to be complete, technical and well explained. Not to have copy-pastable examples. W3schools is neither good documentation or good examples though.

When I need to change a car's oil, I don't need a complete, detailed overview of the entire lubrication system. There is a place for all kinds of documentation, but exhaustive explanation is often less preferable to a quick "how do I do this."

Re: Documenting the Web together

#60

Post by [deleted] »

jsmthrowaway wrote: post #52
dmitriid wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple never hosted web-related docs, so they probably don’t care.

Sorry, that is not true. Apple documents all of its platforms quite thoroughly, and Safari is one of them. Theirs is simply not an analogue to MDN. https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Ap... “Apple doesn’t attempt to document general-purpose Web technologies without an eye on its own platforms” might be a more accurate statement, but even that is shaky because they spent a lot of time explaining…

[deleted]
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