Re: Redesign Compatibility

Tyson Key wrote:
> I'm concerned if it went ahead because of the many people (myself 
> included) who use older browsers because of, for example: Corporate 
> Policy,Older and less capable computers,old operating system and/or non 
> upgradable internet appliences and consumer set-top boxes.You should 
> maintain a set of pages for older browsers,to keep 
> compatibility.Compatibility is what the W3C is about of course,isn't it?

Hi Tyson,

Compatibility is very important to us. Like all organizations, W3C 
has to make a choice about where to draw the line between backward 
compatibility and forward motion in its design. We take many issues
into account, including those that you thoughtfully mentioned. For
this reason, our new design is meant to "transform gracefully" so 
that users of older browsers can still use the page, even if the 
presentation is not ideal. There may be some users for whom the
page doesn't work at all, and we would like to hear from those
users so that we can figure out workarounds.

It quickly becomes unmanageable to try to maintain or generate
alternative versions of pages. Our intent was that a single page
would allow for different layouts according to the capabilities
of the user agent.

Thank you for writing,

  _ Ian

-- 
Ian Jacobs (ij@w3.org)   http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs
Tel:                     +1 718 260-9447

Received on Sunday, 8 December 2002 11:43:06 UTC