Today I tried to do something I've been meaning to do for a long time: get my websites to validate as strict XHTML. Till today, I haven't rated it enough of a priority to take the time. Giving myself thirty minutes for the first site, I made it most of the way, but bailed because I couldn't get the layout to work easily in all browsers.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm a standards conscious guy, and I believe strongly in refactoring. I'm always taking that extra five minutes (or thirty) to make things more readable, more flexible, and more maintainable. So why is it I've avoided this task all these years, in spite of seeing XHTML checkmark logos everywhere? Why, with all the hours I've wasted with browser idiosyncracies, hoping and praying for standards adherence, have I let my sites languish when standards compliance is finally becoming practical and prevalent?

Because I didn't need to. That's why. The only reason I dipped my foot into the pool today is that I've got a fair number of "validators" reading this site, so felt obliged to at least make the effort. W3C folk do a lot of work on our behalf. The least I can do is change a few <br>s to <br />s.

This kind of task list limbo is typical. A few years ago, the wireless phone line extender we use for our ReplayTV stopped working, so as a "temporary" measure, I ran a phone cord across the middle of our living room. It's still there. Why? Because I haven't needed to take care of it, so instead we occassionally trip on the wire and feel marginally embarrassed when people visit. There's so many other things higher on the list.

Being passionate about our projects, it's easy to forget that most others consider our "new better way" as another goddamn thing they gotta struggle with. Achieving industry buy-in is a tough nut to crack, particularly for the already over-burdened. Why should I spend an hour learning your technology? I've got a stack of ten books on my desk. What can your widget do for me now.

Nothing yet? Then why are we talking?

Again: we need better 'right-now' answers to motivate the masses into wanting the Semantic Web. More than this, we need to convince them it'll solve a painful problem of theirs, otherwise they won't even take the time.