Re: Splash, et al.

Spanky, Rhubarb 3.14159265 <spanky(at)ediblebrain.com> writes:

>We've been comparing all of this to magazines, television, books,
and
>even answering machines!!!  Well this only leads me to one
conclusion...
>The Web is so new that no one knows how to define it.

We have seen a run of "the web is like a ________" (fill in the
blank) analogies. And I think that they are *all* correct. The
truth is that the web is so vast and complex that it really can be
all of these things... but it can't be all of them at the same
time.

I think that as a site designer you have to decide what you want
your corner of the web to be. Some want it to be an academic
journal. Some want it to be an advertising billboard. Some want it
to be a radio station. All of these are possible. There is no
contradiction here. Make it so.

And this is why we will *never* get an agreement on the issues we
have debated recently: because we are *all* correct as far as our
own personal needs are concerned.

In my work, I use the web (or, more correctly, HTML delivered in a
variety of ways) to deliver software documentation. In this role,
it takes on the aspect of a user manual. As a hobby, I use HTML to
deliver fiction. In this role, it takes on the aspect of an
illustrated magazine.

In no case do I ever consider using it as (for example) an
advertising medium. Thus, if someone says "I need HTML to do x, y,
and z to deliver my ads effectively", I could shout them down,
claiming that you must be *stupid* to consider such a heresy...
and I would be right, of course, were they delivering user guides.
But they aren't, and what they want is perfectly valid for *their*
use of the web.

I've snipped the rest of the post  from Spanky, but I agree with
all of his points... even when he's arguing against me!... because
what he says is undoubtedly true for *his* use of the web. But,
equally, his arguments are not true for *my* use of the web.

Hey... how about you folks bearing this in mind before you go off
flaming each other in the next round of this fascinating debate:
WE ARE ALL RIGHT. Now, kiss and make up.

Ok?


--
David Meadows [ Technical Writer | Information Developer ]
DNRC Minister for Littorasy * david(at)goldenheroes.softnet.co.uk
"Is not this the most reprehensible form of ignorance,
 that of thinking one knows what one does not know?"
      -- Socrates

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