Re: WWW: Interoperability Crisis?

Sean B. Palmer <sean@mysterylights.com> wrote:

>> So you seem to imply that it's not a language for creating documents,
>> simply linking them together.
> 
> Well, you create the documents and then link them together.

Do I create these documents in HTML? If so, should all my documents be in
HTML? What happens if I want to use features that aren't available in HTML?
Should I use a proprietary format that supports URIs instead?

>> do I drop HTML into my own file formats
>> or do I drop my file formats into them?
> In m12n? Usually you drop your own formats into HTML (going by the
> specification), but it doesn't stop you doing it the other way around -

Will my content be able to be read in web browser either way?

> By all means link to an video of your cat if you want, but I
> don't see why it has to be inserted into a document for when HyperText
> links are just as good.

Because it's cool! Hey, everyone else does it. Why shouldn't I? I can add
music and graphics and animations and all sorts of things -- everyone wants
to see those, right?

> I'll bet that most people who want flashy stuff
> don't think about specifying alternatives for PWD's do they?

I don't know anyone with a disability, so I don't see why I should care
about them. They can't be that important, right? Why don't they just ask a
friend to tell them what stuff looks like? It's there problem, not mine.

>> If you want most people to do number 2, you're going to have to make a
>> side-effect/requirement of doing one.
> How do you suggest we do that w.r.t. XHTML?

Fix the:
    - browsers
    - books
    - web-page making programs
    - opinions
    - etc.

> HTML isn't just a way of adding links to plain text. It can be a very rich
> document format... but you have to be careful.

How so -- what kinds of "rich" things can I do with it?

> I would rather have something
> simple that doesn't look flashy, than something that doesn't work at all.

True, but I get to make things that look flashy and work just fine for 90%
of web users. Yet, they still seem to make you sad...

-- 
[ Aaron Swartz | me@aaronsw.com | http://www.aaronsw.com ]

Received on Saturday, 20 January 2001 21:43:09 UTC