Re: User control (was Re: Non-underlined Links)

David Meadows <david(at)heroes.force9.co.uk>
& Harold A. Driscoll <harold(at)driscoll.chi.il.us> wrote:
> >My question then, is there any Web browser available which recognizes
that
> >it is a tool of the user of the computer, and should (ultimately) do
things
> >(such as key user interface issues) primarily for the utility and
> >convenience of the user? And that provides such capability in a usable
> manner?
>
> Is this the responsibility of the browser? It seems to me that it is the
> author's responsibility. Your statement is analogous to saying "it is the
> responsibility of the [programming language] compiler to ensure that
> software cannot be distributed unless it passes a usability test". Clearly
> ludicrous. We need to better educate web authors rather than force
> particular tools on them.
>
I have a question solely from a user's standpoint: why isn't software
passing a usability test before distribution??  I am tired of buying &/or
using (especially buying)software that doesn't work, has bugs (I guess the
definition of bugs is that it doesn't work<S>), is incompatible with other
things I may have on the puter & I have to install fix after fix (disguised
as "updates") to get it to work.  M$ is most famous for that, but they
aren't the only ones.  It seems to me that what I am trying to learn here is
hampered by every company having different ideas of what is important, not
every company trying to accommodate what users want to do.  Is it that by
trying to make things easy for the people that follow,
programmers/developers get bogged down by either poorly written standards or
by not following standards at all?  I surely wouldn't mind waiting a while
longer to get a program if I didn't have to spend the same amount of time
pulling my hair out over trying to get it to work as intended.  I obviously
don't know enough about all of that.
much alohas from Maui...
C�line
-- Live your life so that when you die, you're the one who is smiling
   and everyone around you is crying.

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