[WEB4LIB] RE: CSS, HTML4, and DHTML4

[Andrew I. Mutch]

I've been passing this article along to people who have been asking if
they need to know CSS, HTML 4, etc.

http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/00/04/index1a.html

The relevant point for discussion here is that the next-generation
browsers won't recognize all of those HTML hacks like
<font>,<marquee>,etc. so you need to start coding to standards, otherwise
your pages won't display how you expect them to display.  That means
making some choices - like abandoning the <font> tags knowing that NN3.x
users won't see Verdana or Georgia or whatever font-flavor you are using
[trust me, it's not so painful, I'm learning to love my style sheets.]

Andrew Mutch
Library Systems Technician
Waterford Township Public Library
Waterford, MI


On Wed, 23 Feb 2000, John Little wrote:

> Don:
> 
> In my opinion the primary reason ("purpose") the contracts should adhere to
> your standards is because you asked them to.  A contractor that is unable to
> produce a product as requested (which is my suspicion) should have said so
> in advance.  Now your contractor is in an unenviable position of hoping to
> get paid for something you didn't ask for.
> 
> 
> Other issues include accessibility, portability, and standards (or why use
> CSS, or HTML 4, or any standard).
> 
> Accessibility:
> * You likely have a broad user base whose computer platform and browser
> versions are equally broad.
> * Likely, it is your library's tradition to provide information with as few
> barriers as possible.
> ** CSS is one way to break down those barriers and to focus on information
> delivery to a broad user base.
> 
> Portability and standards:
> * Basically the standards are written so that the web can be used across a
> range of understood platforms and situations.  Not the least of these issues
> is that you may use a different contractor next time.  If the first
> contractor uses standards then the next contractor, ideally, will have an
> easier time of updating or modifying the HTML.  A lot could be written here.
> (Maybe Thomas Dowling will write in.)  But for me the bottom line about
> standards is that a professional will know when to break or bend the rules.
> Perfect adherence to standards is a great goal.  While it may not always be
> desirable or even possible to attain the holy grail of complete standards
> adherence it strikes me as odd that you would have to defend the use of
> standards to a contractor.
> 
> I would suggest that adherence to HTML4 may be easier said than done.  But
> the use of CSS should be commonplace at this point.
> 
> The other aspect of design which should be thought of in advance is
> usability.  Jakob Nielsen's web site, <http://www.useit.com/>, is mentioned
> often in Web4Lib so I won't go into detail.  But usability should get equal
> billing with standards when it comes to web site design.
> 
> /
> John.Little at Duke.edu
> Web Development Librarian
> Duke University
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> >
> > We recently contracted with a local multimedia design company to
> > update the look and function of our Web site.  Based on what
> > I've learned by reading the conversations on this list, I asked
> > that the new site use cascading style sheets, that W3C standards
> > for HTML4 be followed, and that the code be validated as well
> > as run through Bobby.  When the new pages were shown to us last
> > week, none of these things happened.  I immediately asked them why
> > not.
> > ... ... ...
> >
> > > We can make some of the changes you requested, by removing some
> > > of the tag information, however, converting the pages completely
> > > to CSS will take quite a bit of work. My question is, what is
> > > the purpose of this? What is the issue here? Are you looking at
> > > creating a set of DHTML 4.0 standards and why?
> >
>