I wonder what would happen if compilers/interpreters/lexers of various programming/scripting languages had this attitude.
Why do web page authors get a pass? I mean, most web page authors today at least also do JavaScript, where a single out-of-place character can cause the whole thing to simply break.
Yeah yeah, legacy and all that, but that's why we have doctypes.
The entire history of web browsers, from just about day two, demonstrates the folly of this approach.
The strictest, most standards-compliant browser in the world dies a quick death, every time. The most widely-used and popular browser play fast and loose with everything. If they're powerful enough, they retroactively get their fast-and-loose playing recognized as a standard.
It's not that web developers get a pass, but that browsers want to add complete features that help its users. They're dealing with the reality of the long tail of websites that exist and trying to make their users happy.
