‘… Most of the successful versions of HTML have been “retro-specs,” catching up to the world while simultaneously trying to nudge it in the right direction. …

…

That’s not to say that all shipping code wins; after all, … Code is necessary but not sufficient for success. …

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The ones that win are the ones that ship.’

Mark Pilgrim, “Why do we have an IMG element?“, Nov 2nd, 2009

The article includes fascinating excerpts from some of the leaders in this almost-17-year-old work in progress, HTML.