"I know HTML5 and CSS3"

Is it anyone else's experience that when people claim to know HTML[5] and CSS[3] they usually know neither HTML nor CSS well enough to be of any use?

Myself, I know HTML4.01Transitional//EN

I feel it is nothing different when they say they know C, C++, Java or any other language

Every language (or Markup language) has its own versions and drafts. But people's mentality is to assume they know something once they are "familiar" with it, no matter how much or little they know

@asgs Sure, but people don't go around saying they know C++98 or Java7. The version number is mostly irrelevant - you either know a language enough to be useful in it or you dont.

I just find it weird that people who consider themselves "frontend developers" place such importance on the version number - like if you claim to know CSS3 then you're automatically better than someone who knows only CSS.

HTML5 is just HTML4 with more tags. It isn't programming; it's structuring.

AND WITH NO SELF-CLOSING REQUIREMENT FOR EMPTY TAGS IN THE SPEC WTF

Should every front-end developer read the specs?

@unsignedint I agree to your point.

One exception I have seen recently is some people mentioning Java 8 on their CVs especially after the release train got faster

Man, I had to learn and adhere to HTML 4.0 strict and have the damn thing validate.

That got really complicated when css 2 became the norm over table layouts.

Then I just gave up trying with html5, seeing as everyone forgot what valid HTML/CSS actually is anymore.

They do it because HR-people are instructed to ask for it.

@Root
<br> (literally been self closing since the dawn of mankind)

@theuser Irrelevant. Empty tags should always be closed. This way the parser doesn't need to know which tags are and which aren't empty (or worse yet: which can optionally be empty). It also allows forward-compatibility because the parser can simply ignore any tags it doesn't understand. If it assumes the tag accepts content and nests everything following it under the tag, that will lead to undefined and incorrect behavior. If the tag is self-closing that will never happen.

Principle of least surprise.

@theuser Also, I've always closed my <br/>s. 😊

Theres so many standards, that it's a good rule of thumb, if they can't name the version, then they're bluffing.