Re: Accessibility vs. column width control

At 12:56 PM 2/28/2003 -1000, you wrote:
>  I *know* they know their needs better than I do!

The vast majority of surfers on line are users of the technology without 
any particular interest in the technology itself.

They have no interest in determining their own "needs". They use whatever 
default settings their system came with and when they arrive at a site it 
either works well for them or they leave.

In a resource/educational site where visitors are highly motivated to work 
through the content to get what they want a particular visual look and feel 
is not critical.

In a commercial site that exists to interact with potential clients and 
motivate them to a particular action the visual look and feel is extremely 
important and giving viewers too much influence on the display is a poor 
idea. There's nothing mystical about the internet. Much of what has been 
learned in the print and video media about effective communication carries 
over to the web and has evolved to include the interactive aspects of the web.

Steve

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