david wrote: > Make your HTML present the page information in a readable, usable (to a > basic extent) browser view without CSS and (IMHO) Javascript. Add as > little markup as possible to style it using as simple a set of CSS as > possible. Tweak until it provides the information in a functional and > usable way. Then explore the coin called progressive > enhancement/graceful degradation ...
Ah, how I love progressive enhancement. > But, then, I'm kind of old-fashioned. I go to websites for information, > not for graphical whizbang cutting-edge doohickies. (Most of the most > useless/unusable websites I've ever encountered have been the home pages > of web design firms. They feel like they have to pull out every stop and > whistle, sometimes, and Devil take the usability!) I agree. I think we get too many zealots from all camps: - Only CSS, No JS, Flash, images, ...text! - JS blows CSS away! Everything should be JS! - I can rule the world with Flash, Mr. Bigglesworth! The bottom line is that these days, we can't afford to be a purist of any kind, except when it comes to accessibility. That's the real point of a website: putting information out there for people to /access/. Seems obvious. That need not mean that your site contain no images and no Flash or be just a simple block of text. The wise and judicious use of any of these technologies is justified, especially when implementing progressive enhancement. If the user supports CSS, give them the pretty layout. JS? Here's some nifty GUI effects to make your stay nicer. Flash? Here's a video about us and some fancy fonts. No Images? Here's a text version of our header. Screen Reader? Hey, look, all our image tags have alt attributes, etc. I'm reminded of my acting days when I would meet method actors. That was it; that was their only tool: the method. One trick ponies. Like a mechanic who works on your car with only a hammer. For me, I work with six tools: HTML, CSS, JS, PHP, MySQL and Apache. If any one of those tools does the job better while improving and at least not detracting from usability, then that's the right answer and I can't afford to be religious about any of the other technologies. I tend to be anti-Flash over and above anything else because it's over-use and abuse on the internet has conditioned me to hate it. I don't even install the plug-in anymore on any of my machines. It's a failing though based on my previous statement, because it has a use and ignoring it for spite doesn't help my clients who want to show videos on some pages of their sites. David, thanks for your input. I'd love to chat more, but I'm rebuilding my entire site so that all the content is created with the Yahoo JS Library with a Flash-based interface embedded in a Java applet. ;-) Best Regards, Bill -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TheHolierGrail.com | MacNimble.com | Cyber-Sandbox.com | Anytowne.com Bill Brown, Web Developer - "From dot concept to dot com since 1999" "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. -- Albert Einstein ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ______________________________________________________________________ css-discuss [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.css-discuss.org/mailman/listinfo/css-d List wiki/FAQ -- http://css-discuss.incutio.com/ List policies -- http://css-discuss.org/policies.html Supported by evolt.org -- http://www.evolt.org/help_support_evolt/
