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Okay, you have to admit them tagging all the classes with a W3- prefix is kind of funny. Looks like their SEO spam approach leaked out to their framework also.

Okay, you have to admit them tagging all the classes with a W3- prefix is kind of funny. Looks like their SEO spam approach leaked out to their framework also. But I agree with most people, this site will never recover from its poor reputation. And that’s also their business model. We can only hope Google will eventually tone down how much their site appears in search queries for topics they provide no in-depth information for.

Ayesh 4y ago
There is of course that nuclear option of blocking the site entirely on search results using a browser addon. I block w3schools, Pinterest, and a bunch of GitHub/stackoverflow scrapers, and didn't miss a thing.
chillfox 4y ago
All css frameworks really should prefix their classes so you can mix them. And I hope that Google keeps showing them in search results, because while MDN is great for in-depth information, most of the time I just need a quick reference of common attributes, and no I don't want it cluttered with a bunch of in-depth information when I am just trying to see what the correct word for something is and how to spell it. Both W3 and MDN are valuable resources for different use cases.
- zichy 4y ago
  >All css frameworks really should prefix their classes so you can mix them. I don't believe that would work out.
  - klibertp 4y ago
    That's a standard practice in languages that don't have namespaces. C and Emacs Lisp have both proven to be "working out" for decades despite using prefixes instead of namespace support.
  - jaywalk 4y ago
    Why not? Using prefixes to create a "namespace" is a well-established practice in CSS. I'm not sure there's much of a point in doing it to use multiple frameworks, but there's really no reason it wouldn't work.
- skilled 4y ago
  I mean, you are more than welcome to share a subjective opinion. "In-depth" in this context means actual relevant content and not a few lines of text. Yeah, sure, one-liners are great and I myself have to Google them all the time because I forget the different variables that shorthand's can take, but W3Schools is on another level when it comes to this. They inherited their authority from a time when content on the web was sparse and thin as a rail. The argument here is not that they don't provide _any_ useful information, the argument is that the inherited authority is making them first results for queries were they obviously should not be first.
  - chillfox 4y ago
    I don't believe there is anything obvious about it. I think the way W3 lays out information is likely better for beginners. And MDN is likely better for the average professional developer. So the question is who makes the most searches for those subjects. That said, I do actually see MDN as the first result for some searches.
Tao3300 4y ago
It doesn't look funny. CSS doesn't have namespaces. > I agree with most people Taking the thread as a representative dataset, it seems like a pretty even split.
napolux 4y ago
Also to me this looks like a SEO operation to have their stuff linked/quoted in a lot of beginners websites. > But I agree with most people, this site will never recover from its poor reputation. And that’s also their business model. They don't care of reputation, they care about 1st places in google queries :)
dpcan 4y ago
I hope you’re so wrong. W3 schools is a wonderful, excellent site. Dropping w3- in front of their classes is so you can drop it in anywhere. It’s actually rather brilliant and has been helpful in many cases for me. I don’t get the w3 schools hate-flex. Programmers judge other programmer choices too much.
- klibertp 4y ago
  I might be accused of ageism, but honestly, I think the ratio of young and very young programmers to mature ones is what makes for all the tribalism and drama within the community. Of course, there are old folks who still behave like they're in high school. I think it's a nature of the profession to attract such people, so we won't ever be completely free of them, but from my observation - most older (since when 40+ is old, right...) programmers tend to be much more level-headed and way less emotional with regards to tools they use.
- enumjorge 4y ago
  W3 school's previous focus on SEO over accuracy is pretty well known. If you break your users' or audience's trust, it turns out that can have lasting impact.

Ayesh 4y ago

There is of course that nuclear option of blocking the site entirely on search results using a browser addon. I block w3schools, Pinterest, and a bunch of GitHub/stackoverflow scrapers, and didn't miss a thing.

chillfox 4y ago

All css frameworks really should prefix their classes so you can mix them. And I hope that Google keeps showing them in search results, because while MDN is great for in-depth information, most of the time I just need a quick reference of common attributes, and no I don't want it cluttered with a bunch of in-depth information when I am just trying to see what the correct word for something is and how to spell it. Both W3 and MDN are valuable resources for different use cases.

zichy 4y ago
>All css frameworks really should prefix their classes so you can mix them. I don't believe that would work out.
- klibertp 4y ago
  That's a standard practice in languages that don't have namespaces. C and Emacs Lisp have both proven to be "working out" for decades despite using prefixes instead of namespace support.
- jaywalk 4y ago
  Why not? Using prefixes to create a "namespace" is a well-established practice in CSS. I'm not sure there's much of a point in doing it to use multiple frameworks, but there's really no reason it wouldn't work.
skilled 4y ago
I mean, you are more than welcome to share a subjective opinion. "In-depth" in this context means actual relevant content and not a few lines of text. Yeah, sure, one-liners are great and I myself have to Google them all the time because I forget the different variables that shorthand's can take, but W3Schools is on another level when it comes to this. They inherited their authority from a time when content on the web was sparse and thin as a rail. The argument here is not that they don't provide _any_ useful information, the argument is that the inherited authority is making them first results for queries were they obviously should not be first.
- chillfox 4y ago
  I don't believe there is anything obvious about it. I think the way W3 lays out information is likely better for beginners. And MDN is likely better for the average professional developer. So the question is who makes the most searches for those subjects. That said, I do actually see MDN as the first result for some searches.

Tao3300 4y ago

It doesn't look funny. CSS doesn't have namespaces. > I agree with most people Taking the thread as a representative dataset, it seems like a pretty even split.

napolux 4y ago

Also to me this looks like a SEO operation to have their stuff linked/quoted in a lot of beginners websites. > But I agree with most people, this site will never recover from its poor reputation. And that’s also their business model. They don't care of reputation, they care about 1st places in google queries :)

dpcan 4y ago

I hope you’re so wrong. W3 schools is a wonderful, excellent site. Dropping w3- in front of their classes is so you can drop it in anywhere. It’s actually rather brilliant and has been helpful in many cases for me. I don’t get the w3 schools hate-flex. Programmers judge other programmer choices too much.

klibertp 4y ago
I might be accused of ageism, but honestly, I think the ratio of young and very young programmers to mature ones is what makes for all the tribalism and drama within the community. Of course, there are old folks who still behave like they're in high school. I think it's a nature of the profession to attract such people, so we won't ever be completely free of them, but from my observation - most older (since when 40+ is old, right...) programmers tend to be much more level-headed and way less emotional with regards to tools they use.
enumjorge 4y ago
W3 school's previous focus on SEO over accuracy is pretty well known. If you break your users' or audience's trust, it turns out that can have lasting impact.