[Techtalk] why is Active X in web pages evil, but not Perl/PHP/Javascript?

[Almut Behrens]

On Thu, Jan 20, 2005 at 08:09:39AM +1100, Mary wrote:
> 
> Actually, another way of looking at this is to say that it's not that
> *using* server-side scripting avoids browser compatibility problems,
> it's that *not using* client-side scripting avoids browser compatibility
> problems.

Actually, not wanting to be nitpicking, but I think it boils down to
just two things that would avoid browser compatibility problems:

(1) the existance of clear, unambiguous (and preferably sensible)
    standards,

(2) browser developers/companies sticking to those standards and
    implementing them fully.

We all know that this is mere fiction, but if it were true, it would no
longer be an issue what HTML/scripting code some server has to deliver.
If all browsers behaved the same (compatible) way, it would either work
(i.e. get displayed as intended), or not -- in exactly the same way on
all browsers...
IOW, I don't think the problem is client-side scripting per se -- it
just adds another huge set of features that can be implemented
differently across browsers (with whatever intention behind doing so).
More or less the same general problems exist for CSS or pure HTML.

Almut