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Comment by aw3c2 | Hacker News Reader

Because they are the best "5 second reference" there is. I am not bombarded with technical gibberish or standard lingo or other stuff I was not looking for.

Compare https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/a and http://www.w3schools.com/tags/att_a_href.asp

I tried liking MDN after lots of hate about w3schools was at HN once. It just annoyed the &%$# out of me instead of proving useful. Sure, if you want to study something it seems useful, but if you just want to know how to use something, no, just no.

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I'm not sure that was a good example. MDN contains not only a description of individual attributes but also explains when you could use them and how.

And this is why there was backlash against w3schools. It's a copy-paste site, and the people using it were putting out terrible code. If you "just want to know how to use something", you are ruining the web.

I am not ruining the web, I am actively contributing to it in "the right way" by writing and hosting my own websites free of cost because I have fun doing so. Being able to copy and paste to quickly get things done is awesome!

Yes, that page has examples. Somewhere way down the page.

I am not saying they are the worst. This discussion is about:

1. Why are they not changing

2. Why are they still ranking #1

3. What is the answer to life the universe and everything

- Although I've found out the answer to the last one.

1. You'd have to ask them

2. You can't argue that they shouldn't be #1 until you can argue that something else is better.

I know when I am just doing a quick search for some reference I usually end up at w3schools, because they have actually created a quick reference for web elements, and 9/10 times the information I get serves its purpose.

So before you argue that they shouldn't be #1, please tell me where a better reference exists.

I really think you end up at w3schools not because they are a quick reference, but because they always rank #1 on Google searches for web development terms.

That may be true, but it doesn't argue against the effectiveness of the site.

I believe the person above answered your second question. Also I believe your second question answers your first question.

42.

Exactly! I rarely do HTML stuff, but when I do I just want a quick reminder for how to do things. For that type of thing W3Schools beats everyone else.

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