[WEB4LIB] Re: Netscape 6 is out

[David Merchant]

>Design to an html standard not to a browser.

Except not all browsers follow html standards, and I really don't know of 
one that follows every single html standard. And then there are the defacto 
standards that aren't html standard but which most browsers will 
accept.  If we are coding for the widest audience possible, including 
underdeveloped nations, then we need to design with browser differences in 
mind.   And, even with html standards, each browser, each browser version 
(including the different platform types), can interpret the html standards 
differently.  We see that all the time ("this looks great on my Mac but 
like crap on my PC!" or "All the text shows up in the textbox on my PC, but 
people have to scroll to see it on my Mac and they don't realize there is 
more to read!").  We have to code with different browsers in mind.

When creating a word document, I have to keep in mind there are lower 
version numbers out there that may not be able to read mine made in the 
latest-greatest(?) version and so need to save it as a lower version to 
make it accessible by the largest possible numbers of  users.  The web is 
worst than that and will remain so for quite some time.  Unless you don't 
care about the minority of users coming in with older browsers (and 
sometimes that minority is a large minority), then code for html standards, 
or code for just one or two main browsers.  The harsh reality of coding for 
the wide and general public is that you will have to keep different 
browsers in mind when coding, that the web is a more fluid environment, 
always in flux, a moving target.  Because of that we dearly wish for one 
browser, one standard, one way of coding to make our lives easier.  But 
that, unfortunately, is a mirage.

TTFN,
David
Head, Systems Dept, Louisiana Tech University
merchant at latech.edu
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