[WEB4LIB] RE: testing web pages- a question

[Paul Taylor]

Depending on your audience, browser version may or may not be determined by 
stubbornness on the part of the end user.

For a college/post k-12 audience, stubborn refusal may certainly come into 
play. However, for the general public, you must, in my opinion, remember that 
some people don't upgrade for reasons not steeped in stubbornness: a 
child/grandchild maintains the PC on an irregular basis, the download time 
for an upgrade is unacceptable with the old 14.4 modem (or even 56k), etc. 
Additionally, some people may still be using the browser that came installed 
on the PC at the time of purchase. I am of a mind that a good chunk of the 
browsers out there aren't user-upgraded software, but pre-installed on 
newly-purchased PCs--and some older PCs might, in fact, be too slow to 
support new browser bells and whistles, as well as new web content requiring 
special plug-ins.

Thus, love of a particular browser may not be the deciding factor in 
upgrading. A steep learning curve, personal budget restrictions, limited 
connection speeds, etc., certainly may. Of course, as I said, it depends on 
your audience. In a public library setting, I would argue you should try to 
make a web page accessable to as many people as possible (i.e., keep it 
simple, and use W3 standards). In an academic setting, though, standards 
dictating the delivery of academic services probably should rank high in the 
decision-making process.

-Paul


-- 
Paul Taylor
Computer Coordinator
Salem-South Lyon District Library
9800 Pontiac Trail
South Lyon, MI 48178

248-437-6431 phone
248-437-6593 fax
http://south-lyon.lib.mi.us