Re: Updated FAQ on display capabilities

I agree there is still a gap. It is less common, since more countries have
access to the same hardware as the US and Europe today, but there are still
many countries that run behind. It may also be worth noting that having access
doesn't mean the deployment is the same. Factors such as space availability,
lack of phone service, and environmental conditions (e.g. factory enviroments)
can contribute to devices with lesser or older capabilities being more
prevalent than fancier devices, as well as different attitudes on labor costs
vs equipment costs.

In the PDA and cellular markets, I think there is still a country variation in
display capabilities, not only hardware and display format, but font and
dingbat considerations. It may be worth mentioning differences in protocols
which prevent american devices from being used in japan and vice versa.

Why not focus the question on the differences that people still need to be
concerned with, and not debate how big or small they are or were?

Perhaps ask:

What are the design considerations for international differences in display
devices?

Then you can use the response to define the possible differences, and how to
address them.
tex

I thought there was disagreement that the gap had disappeared.

Deborah

 

       -----Original Message-----
       From: public-i18n-geo-request@w3.org
[mailto:public-i18n-geo-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Lloyd Honomichl
       Sent: 04 February 2004 00:40
       To: public-i18n-geo@w3.org
       Subject: Updated FAQ on display capabilities

        

       Question: Do display capabilities of computers in other countries vary?
Do I need to worry
       about screen sizes, number of colors, etc.? 

        

       Background: In the past (until the 90's) customers outside the United
States and Europe often
       had less capable computer systems than those in the U.S. It was common
for other countries to
       lag two to three years behind in getting the latest in personal computer
technology. This gap
       has more or less disappeared in recent years. 

        

       Similarly, in older text mod operating systems it was common for the
number of lines of text
       on the screen to vary. For instance while most U.S. and European systems
allowed 25 lines of
       text on the screen, some Japanese systems had fewer, because the display
height of Japanese
       characters is greater (to allow better diffferentiation given the size
of the character set
       and the complexity of the characters) and some systems reserved one or
two lines for a "Front
       End Processor" (the equivalent of today's Input Method Editor.
Variations also existed between
       various vendors' hardware in Japan until a standard system emerged. 

        

       Answer: Today there is no need to make special allowances for hardware
limitations in other
       countries - BUT many similar considerations SHOULD be kept in mind for
the following reasons: 

       i) Accessibility. For instance, the fact that virtually every monitor
sold today can support
       millions of colors doesn't make it possible for color blind users to
distinguish all colors.
       For more guidance in this area, check out the W3C Web Accessibiity
Inititive. 

       ii) Display capabilities vary a lot these days because different people 

       have computers with different-sized screens, but also because there 

       are a lot of other devices (PDAs, cellphones,...). Although not all 

       Web pages may need to work on cellphones, try to design with as few 

       limitations as possible. 

        

       So, even though hardware variations across locales are not much of an
issue now, the same sort
       of measures are still needed, though for different reasons. 

        


-- 
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Tex Texin   cell: +1 781 789 1898   mailto:Tex@XenCraft.com
Xen Master                          http://www.i18nGuy.com
                         
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Making e-Business Work Around the World
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Received on Wednesday, 4 February 2004 08:04:00 UTC