Dynamic HTML

[Thomas Dowling]

-----Original Message-----
From: Diane Kurtz <dkurtz at brdgprtpl.lib.ct.us>
To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at library.berkeley.edu>
Date: Saturday, April 11, 1998 4:00 PM
Subject: Dynamic HTML


>Has anyone had any experience with Dynamic HTML?  We are having a
>meeting re: web pages this next week and one of the librarians is very
>eager for us to pursue Dynamic HTML...

Why?  Is there a particular problem to which this is a proposed solution?
Or does your colleague want to be on the cutting edge just to be there?

>...My understanding is that the first
>screen offered to the patrons or browsers would offer a choice between
>DHTML, present style pages with graphics or text only pages.

I've never discovered any benefit to having multiple versions of any page.
Instead, they represent a management headache and give you a lot of
opportunities to provide differing, if not contradictory, information on
each version of each page.  I think your time would be better spent focusing
on site design and technologies that degrade gracefully enough on
non-supporting browsers to let you write one version of each page.

>I've been doing some reading about it but am very unsure of its
>practicality for a public library.
>I would be very grateful for any comments.

Most of what I see on DHTML seems to be targeting intranet development where
there's a degree of standarization on browsers and versions.  That is not
the case at most library sites.


Thomas Dowling
Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu