Re: pages

In message <c=US%a=_%p=Montgomery%l=NY-PB-EXCH-1-970601061124Z-622@sf-exch-2.mo
ntgomery.com>, 
Erik Aronesty writes:
>The concept of "pages" and "paged output" is an important one in 
>	human understanding of readable content.

Pages are an "appearance" feature, not a structure feature.  As such they are 
very dependent on other appearance features such as font and window sizes.  
These are the sorts of features that a user needs to be able to control on an 
individual basis to accommodate individual differences: most carefully laid out 
"pages" end up looking pretty awful when displayed with the enormous fonts I 
use so I can read them and the "landscape" layout window I use to accommodate 
them.

If your suggesting that browsers should be configurable to force a "page break" 
on a level one header I would agree completely.  I could even deal with a 
"force new page" tag although I suspect it will end up being grossly misused.  
But adding "page" as a primary concept ignores the fact that this _isn't_ paper 
and misses the opportunity it provides to let readers control appearance for 
their own comfort and needs.

--------
Sarr Blumson                     sarr@umich.edu
voice: +1 313 764 0253           FAX: +1 313 763 8937
ITD, University of Michigan      http://www-personal.umich.edu/~sarr/
535 W William, Ann Arbor, MI 48103-4943

Received on Monday, 2 June 1997 09:31:07 UTC