RE: New York Times web site

On Thu, 10 Feb 2000, Kynn Bartlett wrote:

>  For example, it's
> possible that they think a text-only site is the best way to
> convey their information or they're trying to cater to a Lynx
> crowd.

If I might make a comment on that specific point: it seems to me
to be a fundamental misunderstanding to "cater to" Lynx users by
generating text-only versions.

Text-only versions can (paradoxically?) be useful to those using
graphical browsers, because those browsers typically do not behave
well when auto image loading is turned off.  Lynx has no difficulty in
accessing a non-customised web page in text mode, and displaying the
appropriate text-mode fallback that has been provided (we hope, in
accordance with good WWW design practice).

No matter how cleverly the multiple variants of the same page might be
generated, the procedure inevitably impacts cacheability.  If the
benefits outweigh that, then it would be OK, and there could well be
situations where that seems to be the case; but as a general
principle, I don't believe they do.

best regards

Received on Friday, 11 February 2000 07:20:02 UTC