RE: Future version of HTML!?

Keith,

I think you are missing several important points about the web. 

The web could be far more universal than you seem to think. There are
visions of the web that goes far beyond normal desktop computers are
visual browsers. The web shouldn't be just a funny multimedia thing you
can have at your computer. The web shouldn't be just cross-browser and
cross-platform, it should be cross-sensory, that is, the user should be
able to experience the information with whatever senses he or she prefers
(I find it strange that the WAI-WG didn't emphasize this when they wrote
the WCAG), and the real challange for author is to make sure the user can
get as much out of a page as possible, following the user's preferences.
Also, the web must be possible to analyze by automatic means, so that
specialized user agents can index the information so that it is possible
to find what you are looking for. The whole point is, you are not writing
for a uniform group of people, you are writing for an audience you've got
no idea what looks like.

I mean, look at the web! It is in a terrible state! It is impossible to
find the information you are looking for in a sensible way, because nobody
is making an effort to compile meta-data, when you go to a page, you can't
link individual pages, because they are incomprehensible without all the
frames, you can't even change the width of your window or the size of your
font, because there are strong constraints on frame and table widths. I
love to browse the web laid-back with an 18pt font, but I can't. All this
because the poorly designed "extentions" by Netscape and MS that
emphasized that the author should have full control, and denying the user
of web pages the right to choose what is best for him or her. 

You are just continuing in the same direction. If you win, I'll stop
writing HTML. Also, the web will eventually be overcrowded, everybody
screaming on top of each other, the noise will be higher than the signal,
and that will be the end of the web. Considering the brilliant ideas of
the pioneers of the web, and what potential it really has, that would be a
shame.

BTW, is the full text fo ISO-HTML available online, and if yes, could
someone provide me with the URL?

Best,

Kjetil
-- 
Kjetil Kjernsmo
Graduate astronomy-student                    Problems worthy of attack
University of Oslo, Norway            Prove their worth by hitting back
E-mail: kjetikj@astro.uio.no                                - Piet Hein
Homepage <URL:http://www.astro.uio.no/~kjetikj/>
Webmaster@skepsis.no

Received on Sunday, 24 October 1999 09:01:35 UTC