[WEB4LIB] CSS, HTML4, and DHTML4

[Avi Rappoport]

At 9:11 AM -0800 2/23/2000, Don Yarman wrote:
>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?

I think you should explain to them why you want to support these 
standards and what you are willing to give up.  For example, can you 
live with lack of special fonts in older browsers?  I think that's 
what they're worried about, and it's a reasonable issue.

They have probably evolved their own system based on more commercial 
sites with different specifications, and gotten used to that way of 
doing things. So I would ask them what non-HTML-4 features they are 
using and why.  Maybe you don't need some of the dynamic stuff 
they're including because they're cool, maybe you do want them, but 
you need to have a more thorough discussion to locate the 
compatibility issues.

Best of luck,

Avi

-- 
________________________________________________________________
Avi Rappoport, Search Tools Maven: <mailto:avirr at lanminds.com>
Guide to Site Indexing and Local Search Engines: <http://www.searchtools.com>