[WEB4LIB] Re: Netscape 6

[Barbara Gellis Shapiro]

Tony,

While I agree that there is too much over designing of pages on the web,
I think your comment goes a bit far. I believe that the use of some
formatting on a page can make accessing the information easier. For
example, a table organizes data, colors and sizes of fonts help sort
groups of information. A drop down box could keep a page from being too
messy, while allowing quick and easy access to other pages.

I personally dislike pages that obscure the information, trying to cram
every possible thing on a page just for the effect, or so the author can
demonstrate their skill programming a technical toy. I dislike the waste
of bandwidth, and as you said, the waste of your time. Good design is a
whole different issue, however.

You said, "If I can't get any useful information from
> the page I know the author/publisher is clueless and its not worth
> going any further."

Well, not every user insists on using the lowest tech browser possible,
just as not every user uses the latest browser available. Judging the
author to be clueless, and the information on the page to be useless, is
going a little too far, IMHO.

Using design properly makes the page consisent and easier to work with,
and does not have to go to excess.

Barbara

Tony Barry wrote:
> 
...
> 
> By my  choice of browser I choose not to have tables, scripting,
> colors, images, variations in font and font size or sounds, in my
> initial viewing of a page. If I can't get any useful information from
> the page I know the author/publisher is clueless and its not worth
> going any further. If I see that there may be useful features which
> require more capability I open it in a fully featured browser. I save
> a LOT of time this way.
> 
> Tony
> --
> phone  +61 2 6241 7659
> mailto:me at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au
> http://purl.oclc.org/NET/Tony.Barry
> 
> On Aboriginal Policy
> "And if governments will not act, then this is a matter on which
> people must act to secure a government that will.The dignity and
> self esteem of Australia at some point will demand it."
> 
> Malcolm Fraser 24 Aug 2000

-- 
.............................................
Barbara G. Shapiro   (mailto:barbara at gate.net)
Barbara's News Researchers Grafitti Pages
 -- http://www.gate.net/~barbara/index.html
.............................................
"Life is what happens to you while you're
 busy making other plans."     -- John Lennon
.............................................