- From: Paul Burchard <burchard@pobox.com>
- Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 21:28:28 -0400 (EDT)
- To: Grahame Grieve <grahame@kestral.com.au>
- CC: www-talk@w3.org
Grahame Grieve wrote: > It should be up to the author. The spec is nearly right, except > that the author (=server) cannot influence the browsers behaviour. I disagree. One of the most important design principles of the web -- in strong distinction to the "multimedia" world -- is that BOTH the consumer and provider need to have control over the presentation of information (temporally, logically, and visually). The social contract which gives the largest value-multiplier is the one in which the consumer's presentation choices are authoritative, while the providers' presentation choices serve as the ubiquitous default. At issue here is not just the user's freedom to navigate as he or she chooses -- itself a significant attraction of the web over previous infosystems -- but more generally, the ability of old information to be used in new ways, unforseen by the author. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Burchard <burchard@pobox.com> http://www.pobox.com/~burchard/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Wednesday, 30 June 1999 04:34:19 UTC