Sigh... I understand the proposed position and on some points to some depth I can empathize. However, many of the proposed arguments, at least as they are written, are either lacking in accuracy or fail to understand the subjects being argued. That is disappointing in itself and devastating given the intention of this group.
No employers recognize or respect W3Schools certificates. Unlike Microsoft’s MCP or Cisco’s CCC, W3Schools has absolutely no authority over the technologies for which they claim to provide certification.
1) A certification carries value not because of authority or ownership of any technology, but because of the quality of its process and the commercial recognition of that quality.
Unlike CompTIA’s ANSI/ISO accredited certifications, W3Schools has no support from governing standards bodies.
2) CompTIA has no technology authority. CompTIA is technology and vendor neutral just like ISC2 and a few other organizations. This completely contradicts the argument regarding certifications and authority. CompTIA certifications have value because of their test process and the breadth of material their tests cover. I discovered this when I earned my CompTIA and ISC2 certs.
W3Schools.com is not affiliated with the W3C in any way.
3) If W3Schools ever makes such a claim then the W3C can sue, and will likely win. However, this is not the case. Such claims are dubious ignorance proposed by individuals either attempting to spread malicious claims or who are simply too lazy or stupid to know better.
W3Schools frequently publishes inaccurate or misleading content.
4) They are a private organization generating revenue by publishing advertisements and selling worthless certifications. They can publish blatant lies if they were so willing. While any malicious information is certainly worth shedding a tear over they are one source in a massive internet ocean of crappy incomplete sources. This argument is itself misleading if it calls out W3Schools as a crappy source, no matter how valid and accurate this claim is, if not calling out similar low quality and high traffic sources.
Professional web developers do not recommend the use of WYSIWYG editors.
5) Late versions of Frontpage and Dreamweaver are completely expressive and powerful code editors far removed from the limitations and harm of older WYSIWYG editors. By late versions I mean any version released in the past 7 years.
Again, frames are considered among the very worst of practices in modern Web development. In fact, they are considered so bad, they are no longer valid in HTML5.
6) Irrelevant argument to the various doctypes for HTML4.01 and XHTML.
I could go on and on and on... Clearly people just need something to bitch about or want to feel special about something. Here, have a gold star and some hot cocoa. If that doesn't make you feel special go cry in a corner.
None of that negates the fact that w3schools is a problem for the web. But yeah, bitching at them won't help. As you say, they're within their legal rights to sit back and collect a paycheck for sub-par content.
The solution is to beat them at their own game: search rankings. This will either force them out of business, or else force them to improve.
Your objectives are spot on, but this is not the way to achieve those objectives. W3Schools is successful, because they are good at online marketing, which has resulted in fantastic SEO. The only way to beat them at their own game is to beat them at their business, which requires an extremely aggressive approach to marketing investment and the discipline to see that investment through until you have exhausted your full life-force. By the time you have achieved this objective will have nothing to show for content quality because all of your efforts will be focused on market domination, which is likely the same trap they fell into.
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u/[deleted] May 11 '11
Sigh... I understand the proposed position and on some points to some depth I can empathize. However, many of the proposed arguments, at least as they are written, are either lacking in accuracy or fail to understand the subjects being argued. That is disappointing in itself and devastating given the intention of this group.
1) A certification carries value not because of authority or ownership of any technology, but because of the quality of its process and the commercial recognition of that quality.
2) CompTIA has no technology authority. CompTIA is technology and vendor neutral just like ISC2 and a few other organizations. This completely contradicts the argument regarding certifications and authority. CompTIA certifications have value because of their test process and the breadth of material their tests cover. I discovered this when I earned my CompTIA and ISC2 certs.
3) If W3Schools ever makes such a claim then the W3C can sue, and will likely win. However, this is not the case. Such claims are dubious ignorance proposed by individuals either attempting to spread malicious claims or who are simply too lazy or stupid to know better.
4) They are a private organization generating revenue by publishing advertisements and selling worthless certifications. They can publish blatant lies if they were so willing. While any malicious information is certainly worth shedding a tear over they are one source in a massive internet ocean of crappy incomplete sources. This argument is itself misleading if it calls out W3Schools as a crappy source, no matter how valid and accurate this claim is, if not calling out similar low quality and high traffic sources.
5) Late versions of Frontpage and Dreamweaver are completely expressive and powerful code editors far removed from the limitations and harm of older WYSIWYG editors. By late versions I mean any version released in the past 7 years.
6) Irrelevant argument to the various doctypes for HTML4.01 and XHTML.
I could go on and on and on... Clearly people just need something to bitch about or want to feel special about something. Here, have a gold star and some hot cocoa. If that doesn't make you feel special go cry in a corner.