Subject: RE: If you don't use NetScape... :-( From: kevin@mail.newhouse.com (Kevin Cooke) Date: Mon, 1 May 1995 10:20:11 -0400

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I just realized this post might be a bit too HTML specific for many folks
on this list... If you're not interested in this stuff, delete this
message!


At 8:58 PM 4/30/95, Jeremy Allaire wrote:
>----------
>
>Within a couple of months, nearly all browsers (excpet for Lynx and  those
>making commercial browsers who are either incompetent or underfunded such
>that they can't innovate) will support HTML 3.0.  Mosaic and Netscape
>currently do.  There is an enormou
>s amount which can be done with HTML 3.0, and even without 'killing' the
>end-user with huge graphics, etc.
>

Sorry, wrong answer, but thanks for playing.. HTML 3.0 is not a finished
specification yet.  And the people at Netscape say that their product
'supports more of HTML 3.0' than any other browser, but that just isn't
true:  Arena (an X windows browser which is a product from those friendly
folks at CERN) supports tables *as well as* style sheets and a few other
neato bells and whistles which may be added to the spec for 3.0, and NCSA
for X (I forgot the latest version number) supports tables too.

Besides which, the 'Netscape extensions' have *nothing* to do with the
spec.  In fact, Netscape has gone around the standards process from the
start, using things like the  tag instead of , which
would be better for lots of reasons.


>I have seen no truly compelling reason (outside of benevolence or
>altruism) for publishers NOT to alienate that increasingly small portion
>of the Web browsing audience by using standard HTML 3.0.  The most
>important consideration should be how one's ser
>vice looks on the major browsers; that's it.  If the cost of developing a
>service for terminal based or low-bandwidth users is too high, forget it.
>Also, services will increasingly use forms and other types of user-driven
>input (including external clie
>nt-
>
>Jeremy Allaire

As there is no such thing as 'standard HTML 3.0' yet, I'm not sure what you
mean.  Tables are good, as long as you design them well enough so that
people who can't use tables aren't too deprived, but beyond that, I'm not
sure what you mean.  Background graphics have already been abused to death
by techy folks who don't seem to care much about design -- see my home page
for a good example :).
Background colors are a nice idea, but our designers objected when we
suggested them, saying that they had anti-aliased all of the graphics for a
gray background, so they would look worse if we used, say, yellow instead.

See http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/MarkUp/MarkUp.html for more information
on the state of HTML standards.  It lists HTML 2.0 as 'in final review' and
HTML 3.0 as 'in development.'

I don't mean to sound pedantic, but lots of people are still trying to
influence the development of the 3.0 spec, and it is by no means finished.

As for web design, IMHO it makes sense to design 'up' for Netscape, but
make sure that *everyone* on the web has access to the information you are
providing.
Our weather page (http://www.nj.com), though pretty heavily graphical, will
give you all of the same information when you're using lynx, or when you
have your load images option set to 'no'.  What makes the internet (and the
web) such an incredible phenomenon is that it became so popular because of
a commitment to interoperability.  Standards are good things; if everyone
sticks to them, life will be easier for everyone.

Just my 2 bits..


Kevin Cooke
Newhouse Newspapers New Media
kevin@newhouse.com
http://www.nj.com/~kevin/
(201) 217-2462



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