plain text has its points

to follow up on what Kynn Bartlett said:

> Actually, HTML is better because it allows for embedding of
> structure and meta-content that doesn't exist in plain
> text.

There are two sides to this coin.  Markup, in use, can become a
cover for laziness in verbalizing the message.  The tags may
siphon information out of the text, not just add new information.
Tags are a little like Cookies in creating a way for programs to
talk behind the user's back, and possibly abuse this capability.

The cross-linking between the WAI guidelines and related W3C
documents is a major benefit.  I don't mean to dispute the upside
potential of hypertext and multimedia.  But there is more to the
way people trust plain text than tool obsolescence.

Al

Received on Monday, 7 December 1998 09:37:47 UTC