Re: text on graphics?

BearHeart / Bill Weinman (bearheart@bearnet.com)
Sat, 11 May 1996 12:29:04 -0500 

Message-Id: <2.2.32.19960511172904.00a14f08@luna.bearnet.com>
Date: Sat, 11 May 1996 12:29:04 -0500
To: Abigail <abigail@tungsten.gn.iaf.nl>,
From: BearHeart / Bill Weinman <bearheart@bearnet.com>
Subject: Re: text on graphics?
Cc: www-html@w3.org, boo@best.com

At 05:09 am 5/11/96 +0200, Abigail spake:
>Most of the time, <table> is just used to layout the web page. This
>works quite well when using a graphical browser. However, if the
>user (= reader) does something the developer (= author) has never
>dreamed off (say, using a sound browser), things can lead to sillyness.
><table>s were designed for tabular data.  If they are misused to force
>a graphical layout, one limits his/her audience.

   This silly argument has finally driven me to the edge of my 
commitment to not write in this forum anymore. (Nothing personal, 
but whenever I do I seem to get back a million messages from someone 
named "MAILER-DAEMON". Never heard of her.) 

   This argument is silly, Abigail, because if the HTML-writer is 
using <TABLE> to lay out graphics on a page (and maybe place some 
text over the graphic), obviously her audience is people who can 
see the graphic".  

   The implication that trying to do visual layout with HTML is 
"limiting the audience" is absurd. HTML exists for expression. The 
people who designed it, had a certain type of expression in mind. 
Other people have found other types of expression for it, and the 
people who designed it gave it away so that could happen. One 
type of expression has no more or less inherent value than another, 
no matter what the size of it's audience may be. I may find the 
proliferation of personal vanity pages with loud clashing colors 
and stupid little animated GIFs all over them obsene, but others may 
really enjoy them. That's what the Internet is about. 

   Let's stop accusing people of abusing the language with their 
personal creativity, and get back to the business of bringing the 
language to it's fullest potential <div class=soapbox> and preventing 
the piracy of it by DC's little corporate consortium </div>. 

--BearHeart

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| http://www.bearnet.com/  ||  http://www.weinman.com/wew/
| Author of The CGI Book -- http://www.cgibook.com/