What is the story behind www.w3fools.com?

W3Schools is a web developer information website, and its content consists of tutorials and references relating to multiple programming languages: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQ  amongst others. It came into fruition around 2010, and was very popular among programmers - many frequented the site for tutorials on different fundamental programming techniques. W3Schools presents thousands of code examples, which readers can edit online and execute the code experimentally. Its name is derived from the abbreviation of the World Wide Web (WWW/W3) but is not in any way associated to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Some users presumed the two were in some way interlinked - probably due to the similar titles and W3Schools’ popularity - which may have been a cause for the intervention of W3fools.

What seems to be the problem?

So, a free-to-access site with a multitude of content and editing capabilities; in theory, there doesn’t seem like much to complain about. However, a non-affiliated site - W3fools - was created for the means of (as you can probably guess from their URL) alerting W3School users to several issues contained in the site’s content. Some viewed a lot of the criticism as nitpicking and even petty: W3fools stated that W3Schools was “only used by developers because it came at the top of search results.” However, it could not be denied that there were some issues brought to light by W3Fools that W3Schools was accountable for.

The first thing W3Fools alluded to was the fact that W3Schools are in no way affiliated with the W3C, stating “Members of the W3C have asked W3Schools to explicitly disavow any connection in the past, and they have refused to do so.” As we mentioned above, this seemed to be a significant cause for concern. Combining the fact that W3Schools failed to differentiate themselves from W3C, and the (possibly intentional) decision to name themselves in such a similar fashion, and you can see the argument. You could also argue, however, that W3 is - and has always been - a universal abbreviation for the World Wide Web. One of their suggestions to improve the W3Schools site was to wikify the site’s content: allowing for the community to self-correct pages.

Instant Impact

W3Fools gained recognition as soon as the site went live in 2011, and W3Schools reportedly started making changes to their own site immediately (appearing rather like a guilty party in the process). It only took a week before W3Schools had issued a formal reply:

“The W3Fools.com website/project is different compared to single user comments, but we always appreciate suggestions on how we can improve W3Schools.”

Although it could be viewed as a somewhat overzealous attempt at highlighting the error in W3Schools ways - one tagline read “We believe W3Schools is harmful to the web. Web developers deserve better” - it did not fall on deaf ears. As W3Fools pointed out themselves, the footnote on the unedited W3Schools site originally said:

“We do not warrant the correctness of [W3Schools] content. The risk from using it lies entirely with the user”

Admittedly, as a developer, that wouldn’t fill you with confidence. After the intervention of W3Fools, however, the footnote – much like the rest of the website – underwent significant change:

“Examples may be simplified to improve reading and basic understanding. Tutorials, references, and examples are constantly reviewed to avoid errors, but we cannot warrant full correctness of all content.”

We don’t know whether this was the kind of change W3Fools were aiming for, but it seems like as good an improvement as one could expect.

So what did we learn today, class?

After the confrontation, W3Schools admitted that their site is suitable for an elementary introduction, saying “For many beginners, W3Schools has structured tutorials and playgrounds that offer a decent learning experience.” However, for anything more advanced they recommend web designer to adopt resources such as the Mozilla Developer Network and the W3C-supported Web Platform Docs.

Whilst we agree with W3Schools’ testament, there were several examples of things that, although correct and functional, aren't considered 'best practice'. For beginner developers, it’s important to get the basics right from the start rather than teaching them the wrong way and thus having to reteach them later on (and having them producing poor code in the meantime).

W3Schools was lacking, and thanks to a (rather forceful) push from W3Fools, they managed to up their game and massively improve their site. Whilst W3Schools might be one of the biggest and most prominent examples of this, incomplete resources on the web aren’t uncommon. Developer resources are tricky, as accuracy is very important. So, our advice is to always use a selection of resources. The more the better.

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