4 ms·

It's possible to do too. Like w3cschools (kerrspit) managed to get to the top with some terrible bootstrap documentation.

DaiPlusPlus 9y ago
Now that MDN is an excellent resource, and MS finally made MSDN documentation more search-engine friendly with docs.microsoft.com I'm hoping it will mean W3Schools will be relegated to lower ranked google results. I don't know how they're able to hold their place still, I really don't.
- Drdrdrq 9y ago
  To be fair, they offered a complete JS reference when none existed (at least that I knew of), in format which was easy to understand. I don't really know where the hate against w3s comes from... I still find them easier to use than MDN for quick lookups.
  - watter 9y ago
    The hate comes from little inaccuracies that have caused hours of stress and confusion. It is probably not as bad now but I recall getting pretty frustrated after spending hours debugging only to find out the docs were wrong.
  - spondyl 9y ago
    It's just a real weird site. It doesn't really teach you anything in depth, opting instead to just spit out a bunch of examples. As someone who used it initially years back starting out, I would have appreciated if it actually gave me context about how things worked and why rather than just copying and pasting code. The only real reason it seems to get attention is due to the feedback loop of its ranking. Users see it as a top result and assume it must be some sort of authority on web development. It has nothing to do with the W3C despite the name. Not to imply that beginners might know about W3C in the first place but still! I wonder if it's still the same team of 3 developers running the place? Here's a writeup about it http://w3schools.sinsixx.com/about/about_refsnes.asp.htm http://w3schools.sinsixx.com/about/about_refsnes.asp.htm
    - yjftsjthsd-h 9y ago
      Examples are super useful; for the cases I've used w3schools, their example either worked almost directly or at least showed me how to do something quickly. Keep in mind that I'm not a real web dev, so my usecases are trivial stuff.
    - shubhamjain 9y ago
      > It doesn't really teach you anything in depth, opting instead to just spit out a bunch of examples. You spelt the very reason it is (was?) popular. The documentation/tutorial that gets traffic isn't the one with the most in-depth technical treatment, but, one which gives accessible examples to get started.
    - dmitriid 9y ago
      Soooo... They were the original StackOverflow ;)
jwilk 9y ago
What's "kerrspit"?
- majewsky 9y ago
  Presumably the noise of spitting in a particularly disgruntled way.
Grue3 9y ago
w3schools won because they have absolutely nailed their design. Compare: https://www.w3schools.com/JSREF/jsref_slice_array.asp https://www.w3schools.com/JSREF/jsref_slice_array.asp The very first thing is an example. The contrast of the fonts is easy on the eyes. You'll be definitely writing code using this method within minutes. https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/slice https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/JavaScript/Referen... The very first thing you see is a huge green box "Why does MDN look different?", which is completely irrelevant to what I'm looking for. Scrolling down reveals thin gray on gray fonts which make the page hard to read. The amount of information is excessive if you're in a hurry.
JimDabell 9y ago
Note that it's called W3Schools, not "w3cschools". Lots of people assume they have something to do with the W3C because they named themselves something confusingly similar, but in fact they are not related to the W3C at all.

DaiPlusPlus 9y ago

Now that MDN is an excellent resource, and MS finally made MSDN documentation more search-engine friendly with docs.microsoft.com I'm hoping it will mean W3Schools will be relegated to lower ranked google results. I don't know how they're able to hold their place still, I really don't.

Drdrdrq 9y ago
To be fair, they offered a complete JS reference when none existed (at least that I knew of), in format which was easy to understand. I don't really know where the hate against w3s comes from... I still find them easier to use than MDN for quick lookups.
- watter 9y ago
  The hate comes from little inaccuracies that have caused hours of stress and confusion. It is probably not as bad now but I recall getting pretty frustrated after spending hours debugging only to find out the docs were wrong.
- spondyl 9y ago
  It's just a real weird site. It doesn't really teach you anything in depth, opting instead to just spit out a bunch of examples. As someone who used it initially years back starting out, I would have appreciated if it actually gave me context about how things worked and why rather than just copying and pasting code. The only real reason it seems to get attention is due to the feedback loop of its ranking. Users see it as a top result and assume it must be some sort of authority on web development. It has nothing to do with the W3C despite the name. Not to imply that beginners might know about W3C in the first place but still! I wonder if it's still the same team of 3 developers running the place? Here's a writeup about it http://w3schools.sinsixx.com/about/about_refsnes.asp.htm http://w3schools.sinsixx.com/about/about_refsnes.asp.htm
  - yjftsjthsd-h 9y ago
    Examples are super useful; for the cases I've used w3schools, their example either worked almost directly or at least showed me how to do something quickly. Keep in mind that I'm not a real web dev, so my usecases are trivial stuff.
  - shubhamjain 9y ago
    > It doesn't really teach you anything in depth, opting instead to just spit out a bunch of examples. You spelt the very reason it is (was?) popular. The documentation/tutorial that gets traffic isn't the one with the most in-depth technical treatment, but, one which gives accessible examples to get started.
  - dmitriid 9y ago
    Soooo... They were the original StackOverflow ;)

jwilk 9y ago

What's "kerrspit"?

majewsky 9y ago
Presumably the noise of spitting in a particularly disgruntled way.

Grue3 9y ago

w3schools won because they have absolutely nailed their design. Compare: https://www.w3schools.com/JSREF/jsref_slice_array.asp https://www.w3schools.com/JSREF/jsref_slice_array.asp The very first thing is an example. The contrast of the fonts is easy on the eyes. You'll be definitely writing code using this method within minutes. https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/slice https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/JavaScript/Referen... The very first thing you see is a huge green box "Why does MDN look different?", which is completely irrelevant to what I'm looking for. Scrolling down reveals thin gray on gray fonts which make the page hard to read. The amount of information is excessive if you're in a hurry.

JimDabell 9y ago

Note that it's called W3Schools, not "w3cschools". Lots of people assume they have something to do with the W3C because they named themselves something confusingly similar, but in fact they are not related to the W3C at all.