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On  4 Jun 95, IBrechner@aol.com wrote:

> (1)  What percentage of all WWW users have systems, hardware
>        or software that prohibits quick and effective display of
>        graphics greater than 40K?
> 
> (2)  What percentage of all WWW visitors turn of their graphics
>        in order to speed up their meanderings in cyberspace.

Somewhere between 0 and 100% on both questions. Once again we are 
back to the issue of graphics or no graphics. It doesn't have to be 
that way. An intelligent design can be, as Jay Linden put it, "Lynx 
enhanced" while still making sensible use of meaningful graphics.

How many of you routinely hit the Cancel button everytime someone 
programs once of those Netscape psychadelic color-to-color flashes? 
The first page or two it was interesting. Nowadays it's a passe waste 
of time.

If graphics have meaning, by all means use them. Make them "lynx 
enhanced" with ALT tags and get them interlaced to speed initial 
display (a variety of sites will process your images free). But use 
them when they add something, not merely when they decorate. Are 
little red dots with 3-D shading really that much better than 
standard bullets? If you key them to convey meaning (red for new, 
blue for old, or whatever), use them. If not, lose them.

If you think it's necessary to establish "identity" with some massive 
imagemap, think again. Image maps may look spiffy, but do they 
functionally accomplish anything? If you can't design "identity" any 
better than that, chances are you're a pretty poor designer.

Graphics or no graphics. It's much the same as asking whether a 
writer should use polysyllabic words. Of course you use them -- when 
they are understood or needed. But you try to limit them unless 
your real purpose is to impress people with vocabulary. Unless you're 
selling artwork on the Web, I'd stick with simpler graphics.
____________________________________________________

ERIC K. MEYER                     meyer@newslink.org 
NewsLink                     http://www.newslink.org
____________________________________________________

From owner-online-news@marketplace.com Mon Jun  5 03:08:26 1995
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