Re: A summary of key points on dynamically generated web pages

Hi, Charles

I believe your analysis is not very complete.  For example, results of
search engines cannot be generated before the search query is specified.
Or a web page which has the most recent article from some set of web sites
listed in a user specified profile.  Or web pages which are stored at a
central repository and generated on demand depending on the university
which is the subscriber.  Or a web page listing descriptions of
items in a shopping cart. Or a web page which does a comparison of
long distances costs depending on a user's calling pattern.

In terms of templates, you're making certain assumptions which aren't
necessarily true.  Templates can have multi-layers of flexibility when
structured proerly.  You're assuming that the templates must be discreet
from each other.    In a well architected system, it is very easy to
specify structures which can be shared among templates.  This allows for
a single change to be easily propogated.  This approach can actually
allow for multiple formats outside of 2.  The trick is to think
abstractly about the attributes.  (If you're a programmer, I can show
you software which does that.)

Scott

> Actually there is no need for the document to be generated at request-time:
> there are significant benefits in speed from generating a ste from a database
> and making it a static collection, even with multiple formats.
> 
> The generation of only 2 forms does not avoid the problem of compromising the
> accessibility of a page for a person with low vision who requires on both a
> structured page and visual cues to the structure (and does not address the
> needs of people who have mobility impairments, etc.) In fact to support this
> approach multiple combinations are required. The amount of work generating
> mulitple combinations from a database is in effect the amount of work to
> multply the templates, and the amount of work maintaining consistency across
> multiple templates when there is any change required is substantial, and
> anecdotal evidence suggests it is not done well.
> 
> Charles