Netscape 6

[Matthew M. Benzing]

web4lib at webjunction.org wrote:

>  Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 23:14:59 +1100
> From: Tony Barry <me at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au>
> To: dan at riverofdata.com
> Cc: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at webjunction.org>
> Subject: Re: Netscape 6 is out
> Message-ID: <a0500192cb6382cc775dd@[10.0.1.8]>
> Mime-Version: 1.0
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
>
> At 3:08 PM -0800 14/11/2000, Dan Lester wrote:
> >Not likely.  There have already been postings on UWEBD about how badly
> >it does with CSS.
>
> CSS is appearance. That's an optional extra to the content.
>

Appearance is not optional; you cannot separate form from content. Choice of color, font,
layout, etc. has a lot to do with what you are communicating; even straight HTML without "bells
and whistles" communicates something with its appearance (fair or not, what it usually
communicates is that the information presented is old or outmoded. Plain vanilla HTML is the
equivalent of black and white TV. It does the job but suggests age and "quaintness" to the
viewer.) CSS does the laudable job of simplifying the way that appearance is controlled and
keeping style issues from conflicting with logical layout...I can use h1, h2, etc. properly
without having enormous typeface screaming from the top of my page, in other words, I can make
pages that look decent without having to sacrifice degradability. I've made pages that use CSS
and DHTML for different effects but that still display well in Lynx. On the other hand
designing simply and only for the "standard" without concern for appearance may have a noble
Platonic air about it, but when you are working for employers and users who want to know why
their pages can't look like this or that it won't keep you in a job very long.


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Matt Benzing
Information Technology Services Librarian
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Libraries
Troy, NY 12180
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