"Conformity to W3C versions and specs thereof are a waste of time after '97" My primary concern is extensive backwards compatibility, not standards. If those elements had been in HTML 4 it's (barely) more likely that my target browsers would support them. Since they don't, I can't use them.
Are your specific criteria for inclusion and retention of elements and attributes thereof based primarily on compatibility with the browsers listed on your page?
Yes. Basically, I target IE4 and Netscape 4 as a conscious design choice and constraint. Standards never mattered as much as "what browsers can actually do". This was true during the browser wars, it was true during the IE6 dark ages, and it's true now (the html living standard = what chrome does)
Are your specific criteria for inclusion and retention of elements and attributes thereof based primarily on compatibility with the browsers listed on your page?
Yes. Basically, I target IE4 and Netscape 4 as a conscious design choice and constraint. Standards never mattered as much as "what browsers can actually do". This was true during the browser wars, it was true during the IE6 dark ages, and it's true now (the html living standard = what chrome does)