3 ms·

Part of w3schools' bad reputation comes from intentionally failing to disavow itself from the W3C (w3.org) while providing commercial certifications. The W3C as

by pluma 8y ago

Part of w3schools' bad reputation comes from intentionally failing to disavow itself from the W3C (w3.org) while providing commercial certifications. The W3C asked them to clarify this non-affiliation several times and it seems the only thing that ever came from it is one sentence on the About page. Seeing that many developers (including experienced professionals) thought the two entities were related, it seems obvious that they directly benefited from that confusion. Luckily this seems less relevant now that WHAT WG exists separately from W3C and ECMA/TC39 is more prominent.

duxup 8y ago
I didn't know that thanks. I wonder how many folks using w3schools.com really know who w3.org really is ;)
hans_castorp 8y ago
Part of w3fools bad reputation stems from the fact the site is (or at least was) full of errors - especially their SQL part.
andyjohnson0 8y ago
W3Schools has been turning-up in my web searches for probably as long as it has existed [1] and I can't remember it ever occurring to me that it was affiliated with the w3c. Maybe this really was a concern to w3c but I seriously doubt many other people were mislead. [1] Just checked. Twenty years!
- nacs 8y ago
  I've been doing web dev work for over a decade now and always thought there was an affiliation with their w3schools and W3C. Fortunately I've only used them as a quick reference and not for any kind certification as OP mentioned they also provide. TIL
- ben509 8y ago
  I never did because I had seen sketchy brands trying to mimic popular brands before, so I was primed to be skeptical. But it is pretty natural in how language works for people to see similar names and assume an association. And you can't reconsider an unconscious association, since it's unconcious.
- kkarakk 8y ago
  it had such good SEO precisely because it was mistakenly assumed to be run by w3c by a LOT of devs who proceeded to click those links enough as to inform google that this is a "important site"

by pluma 8y ago

duxup 8y ago

I didn't know that thanks. I wonder how many folks using w3schools.com really know who w3.org really is ;)

hans_castorp 8y ago

Part of w3fools bad reputation stems from the fact the site is (or at least was) full of errors - especially their SQL part.

andyjohnson0 8y ago

W3Schools has been turning-up in my web searches for probably as long as it has existed [1] and I can't remember it ever occurring to me that it was affiliated with the w3c. Maybe this really was a concern to w3c but I seriously doubt many other people were mislead. [1] Just checked. Twenty years!

nacs 8y ago
I've been doing web dev work for over a decade now and always thought there was an affiliation with their w3schools and W3C. Fortunately I've only used them as a quick reference and not for any kind certification as OP mentioned they also provide. TIL
ben509 8y ago
I never did because I had seen sketchy brands trying to mimic popular brands before, so I was primed to be skeptical. But it is pretty natural in how language works for people to see similar names and assume an association. And you can't reconsider an unconscious association, since it's unconcious.
kkarakk 8y ago
it had such good SEO precisely because it was mistakenly assumed to be run by w3c by a LOT of devs who proceeded to click those links enough as to inform google that this is a "important site"