[WEB4LIB] Re: browser differences
Joyce M. Latham
latham1 at students.uiuc.edu
Fri Aug 2 12:58:13 EDT 2002
I would ask what the institutional identity is here. In our web design
task, we talk about designing for an audience, and, the web design will
identify what audience you hope to attract. High end, flashy web pages
-- nomatter how nifty -- are targeting a particular audience, and
leaving out a large user group -- the people who don't have high end
flashy computers with the latest browsers (like alot of public
libraries.)
The students love the Krug book "Don't make me think". They do
recognize the limitations of the work in a library environment ... but
it became a good touchstone for us: How much do I have to think about
this? How long do I have to wait for this? And, do I care if the
people still using Netscape 4.7 can see it ???
Joyce
Joyce
Rich Kulawiec wrote:
>
> On Thu, Aug 01, 2002 at 10:30:18AM -0700, Kevin W. Bishop wrote:
> > First and foremost, browser-neutral solutions should begin with markup that
> > validates to W3C recommendations (you've chosen 4.0 Transitional). I'd be
> > happy to take a closer look once the code validates.
>
> I took a fast look at it with HTML tidy (latest version from sourceforge).
> It looks pretty good in this regard, with the exception of a large number
> of warnings of this type:
>
> line 590 column 27 - Warning: '<' + '/' + letter not allowed here
> line 591 column 24 - Warning: '<' + '/' + letter not allowed here
> line 592 column 24 - Warning: '<' + '/' + letter not allowed here
> line 593 column 18 - Warning: '<' + '/' + letter not allowed here
> line 594 column 15 - Warning: '<' + '/' + letter not allowed here
> line 595 column 15 - Warning: '<' + '/' + letter not allowed here
> line 596 column 13 - Warning: '<' + '/' + letter not allowed here
>
> But I don't think that's necessarily the cause of the problem.
>
> To be honest, I'm not sure exactly what the problem is -- or to be more
> precise, I'm not sure exactly what the author thinks the problem is, which
> may or may not correspond with my idea of what it might be.
>
> Here's what I see, using Amaya 6.1: a web page on a standard gray background.
> There is a list of resources left-center; below that is identification
> information for the library, links to a map, etc.
>
> At right-center is a rectangular yellow box with "Talk to a librarian live"
> in it, with a graphic of a tiger below it. Below the tiger are some
> links to the library's operational information and a SUNY logo.
>
> The center bottom has a Google logo/search box, with the text:
>
> "Part of the code for counter
> second part of the code for counter"
>
> below it, with a small "counter.com" graphic below it and an affiliation
> with a WebRing below that.
>
> All of this, so far, with the exception of the quoted text just above,
> looks pretty normal.
>
> What doesn't look right is the top. There is a rectangular white box
> with a scrollable list near the right side. The list seems to work okay;
> but I suspect that some graphic element is missing.
>
> Looking at the code, I see some sort of scrollable banner there that
> doesn't appear in my browser; but I don't think that accounts for the
> large white box. I also see links to bits of Flash animation, but as I
> couldn't use Flash even if I wanted to (I'm running OpenBSD on Sparc),
> I don't know what that does.
>
> So my suggestions would be:
>
> 1. Rip out the window resize code (see below) and the rest of the Javascript.
> The visitor count is probably interesting to you but not to anybody else.
> The scrolling banner (the code looks like it continuously scrolls
> horizontally) is annoying.
>
> 2. Rip out the Flash. My argument as to why would be aesthetic (it's not
> needed on a library's home page), functional (if you are communicating
> something important in there, I can't see it; if you're not communicating
> something important, why is it on the home page?), and technical (Flash
> isn't ubiquitous, files often take a long time to download, and as Jakob
> Nielsen has pointed out, it's 99% bad).
>
> 3. Fix the HTML warnings emitted by HTML tidy or the HTML validation
> service at the w3c (http://validator.w3.org).
>
> 4. See if problem has gone away. Lather, rinse, repeat. ;-)
>
> > Secondly -- and this is merely my opinion -- that auto-maximize window
> > script is incredibly obnoxious.
>
> I concur. Luckily, I'm running Amaya and it ignored this. But if I'd
> happened to be testing with another browser at the moment, I believe it
> would have complied, and that would pretty much encourage me to never visit
> the site again. Resize directives, along with the opening of additional
> unrequested windows, pop-ups, pop-unders, disable forward/back controls,
> etc. are all attempts at hostile takeovers of monitor real estate
> and IMNSHO should be considered network abuse.
>
> One more thing: I took a moment to fire up w3m. w3m is a lynx-like browser
> that operates in text mode. I happen to like it because it's quite fast,
> has a lot of nifty features, open-source, and easy to integrate with other
> tools (like the mutt mail client). Anyway, I did this because looking
> at a site with w3m (or lynx) is a good way to get some idea how your site
> will look to a blind person. Below my signature is a snapshot of how
> this page looks to w3m. Chunks of it are quite usable (the middle)
> but it looks like Javascript code comments are leaking out, e.g. the
> text "Part of code for counter second part of code for counter TC".
> Similarly, some of the Flash-related stuff at the beginning appears
> to be showing up.
>
> ---Rsk
>
> Skip Navbar
>
>
>
> embed(http://library.morrisville.edu/images/
> library-logo.swf)embed(http://
> library.morrisville.edu/images/
> library-flash-sm.swf) [(select destination) ]
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> * Find Books, Videos, Etc.
> * Find Articles in Journals, Magazines +------------------------+
> * Find Articles in Newspapers |Talk to a Librarian |
> * Find Magazines, Journals, Newspapers by |LIVE! |
> Title |Requires AOL Instant |
> * Find Articles by Topic in Magazines, |Messenger. |
> Newspapers |Download AOL Instant |
> * Print Magazines, Newspapers, Journals |Messenger |
> arranged by Topic +------------------------+
> * Encyclopedias, Almanacs, Internet, Reference
> * Course, Reserve, ILL Link to Why a Tiger?
> * Special Collections
> * Help and What's New at the Library * Norwich Campus Library
> * Hours of Operation
> ------------------------------------------------ * E-mail the librarian
>
> Library SUNYConnect Project
> SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Details and
> Morrisville Information
> P.O. Box 902
> Morrisville, NY 13408-0902 Many of our online
> Telephone: 315-684-6055 resources are part of the
> Fax: 315-684-6115 SUNYConnect Project.
> Where are we located?
> Campus Map --------------------------
> Click this link to make us
> Maintained by Wilfred Drew. E-mail: your Homepage
> drewwe at morrisville.edu --------------------------
> Just displays when updated
>
> Displays where page located
>
> Google [ ] [Google Search]
> ( ) Search WWW (*) Search the Library Web pages
> Part of code for counter second part of code for counter TC
>
> This site is a member of WebRing. To browse
> visit
> http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=l&y=
> wilfred_drew&u=10014258
>
--
Joyce M. Latham
GSLIS -- University of Illinois
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