- From: Kynn Bartlett <kynn-hwg@idyllmtn.com>
- Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 10:35:50 -0800
- To: Lance! A Musical of Hope <lance@glassdog.com>
- Cc: Chris Tarabochia <ctarabochia@acs.utah.edu>, bkdelong@naw.org, w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
At 12:46 p.m. 01/27/99 -0500, Lance! A Musical of Hope wrote: >What >I hope to stop is not progress toward a standardized, open Web but >rather the continual process of propping up pages to work in >outmoded/outdated browsers using workarounds that take up too much time >which may create an atmosphere of fear of new capabilities (including >those designed to open up Web access) because we're so busy covering up >past mistakes. You know, I don't particularly disagree with Lance on this one myself. We have to keep in mind several points: * Many old and current browsers are SERIOUSLY BROKEN when it comes to correct handling of HTML. * HTML 4.0 is designed so that it degrades gracefully in non-broken browsers that correctly implemented HTML 2.0 or 3.2. * There is nothing wrong with using new technologies, including whiz- bang multimedia stuff, as long as you do it right, and that includes providing alternative content. * HTML 4.0 is a new technology itself, and it incorporates many new features that are _necessary_ because older versions of HTML did _not_ have the full range of features needed for accessible web pages. Even if you coded exactly to the HTML 2.0 or 3.2 standard, you might not have been producing an accessible page. HTML 4.0 -- a new technology -- is vital to accessibility! So, while I didn't bother to read all of Lance's article, I think his points stated in email to this list shouldn't be dismissed. -- Kynn Bartlett <kynn@idyllmtn.com> http://www.kynn.com/ Chief Technologist, Idyll Mountain Internet http://www.idyllmtn.com/ Six Principles of Accessible Web Design: http://www.kynn.com/+six Spring 1999 Virtual Dog Show! http://www.dogshow.com/ Enroll now for my web accessibility course http://www.kynn.com/+access
Received on Wednesday, 27 January 1999 13:40:42 UTC