Re: Another Dumb Tags Issue

Well,

It sounds like you need the following meta tag to prevent smart tags in your
page:

<meta name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="TRUE">

Nancy, I'm not too happy with the idea of smart tags in IE.  I'm sure that I
will disable them in my browser when I need to.

However, I'm simply pointing out the fact that the web designer has no
influence as far as the tools I use to browse the web.  If I find smart tags
helpful, and choose to use a browser that implements them, that is MY
choice, not the designer's.

It's the equivalent of hacking a JavaScript that prevents the user hitting
the back button to leave your site.  The web designer, simply, should have
no control over the functionality of my chosen browser.

Your example of the American Football teams is interesting.  Preventing the
user finding sites about your competitors is against the whole philosophy of
the web: instantly putting information into context, using a series of
hypertext links.

Tim



----- Original Message -----
From: "Nancy J. Foster" <nancyf(at)quillandmouse.com>
To: "tim booker" <timbooker(at)btinternet.com>
Cc: "Hwg-Techniques" <hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2001 11:38 AM
Subject: Re: Another Dumb Tags Issue


> tim booker wrote:
> >
> > I disagree again.
> >
> > If I choose to use a browser that has additional features which give me
> > additional browsing power, then that is none of the web designer's
business.
> > Microsoft will not be changing your content, it sounds like they will
simply
> > be adding a tool help you find additional content.  The fact that this
will
> > be Microsoft content, and I am uninterested in reading their content, is
> > another matter.
> >
> > I have hard time with sites that purposely try to disable features of my
> > chosen browsing software.
> >
> > Web designers seem to be under the delusion that they are in control of
the
> > content that a user is seeing.  Crazy!
>
> Hi Tim,
>
> You're missing the big picture. I mentioned in my original post on this
> thread, here's the problem: Let's say I design a site for a travel
> agency that, naturally, contains all the major airports in the US. MS
> decides to put Smart Tags on all instances of major airport cities,
> linking them to MS-owned Expedia.com. How do you think my client will
> feel knowing their site will have links to a competitor?!
>
> Or, to use a closer example: One of the first categories to be "embraced
> and extended" will be sports teams. Say you put up a personal site that
> says you're against all the teams that use Indian names/mascots (ie,
> Redskins, Braves, Seminoles, etc.). Are you going to want links on your
> page taking viewers to the teams' home pages or fan sites of the team.
> No, you're against them.
>
> I could go on but this should illustrate the point. You don't want links
> to a competitor, to sites you consider the "enemy", etc. on your page.
> If you wanted them, you'd have put them there in the first place. Don't
> buy MS' propaganda -- it's just that.
>
> --
> Nancy Foster
> President
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> Quill & Mouse Studios, Inc.  http://www.quillandmouse.com
> Graphic Design -- Computer Typography -- Website Creation
> --------------------------------------------------------- .
>

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