CSS2 and Core Styles

[Karen G. Schneider]

<author=jerry_kuntz>I'd like to add that HTML has been a tremendously
democratic standard
(Oh, OK, a near standard) in that it has been relatively easy for
neophytes, children, and the programming-disadvantaged (like myself)
to learn. How steep will the learning curve be for CSS and XML? How 
steep has it been for Java and javascript? What would the web look 
like today if building a site required extensive programming 
experience? One answer--it'd look a lot like TV.</author=jerry_kuntz>

I think it is VERY steep.  But I think the tools will be there, and though
the smart librarians will have basic introductions to the elements of HTML,
it will be possible to write for the networked environment without knowing
every code you're using.

If Front Page could produce high-quality, valid HTML, I'd use it.  I'm not
proud.  I don't bake my own bread and I don't write my own word-processing
programs.  After all, there was a time when the sine qua non of Internet
knowledge was understanding how to configure your Unix-based ftp client.
Today many  people who are computer-literate by current standards (and may
even be called "gurus" by their peers) would be baffled by an mget command
(let alone that tiny charmer I always liked that had hash marks appear
during download so you could monitor the progress). And you know what?  The
world is a better place because we can devote our working memory to
important stuff (grocery lists, the top ten paperback bestsellers, where
you hid the recovery disks for the public computers, etc...).  

I recently had the opportunity to be tutored in the basics of XML by
someone with great intelligence (and patience), and I can see it is the
future.  pdf ain't the future any more than receptacles for buggy whips in
cars were the future 80 years ago.  It's just a booklike mimic.  What XML
does is propose that the info trash barge we affectionately call the
Internet can be organized, at least in parts, into meaningful structured
components.  I will not be an XML guru any more than I am a MARC record
guru, but as with traditional cataloging I will also be able to rely on the
expertise of a select few to reap the benefits.  And if I *do* learn a
little more than the average bear--and Jerry, trust me, if I can learn a
little about XML over the course of two days, you should be able to learn a
lot in an hour or two--then I'll be one of the folks who can use XML in
new, creative, librarianesque ways.

Don't be scared of the future.  You will not be left behind.  That's just a
prediction, of course, but I don't see the Internet turning into cable TV,
and I do see us continuing to play a role in its development.

_________________________________________________________
Karen G. Schneider |  kgs at bluehighways.com http://www.bluehighways.com
Author: A Practical Guide to Internet Filters, Neal Schuman, 1997 
Director, Garfield Library of Brunswick, NY  garfield at crisny.org
Garfield on the Web: http://www.crisny.org/not-for-profit/garfield
Information is hard work
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