Re: web safe background

I think we need to remember our numbers while championing the
poor, underprivileged users of NN4.x...:).  If we force ourselves
not to take advantage of options available in more compliant
software, we aren't serving as well the vast majority of viewers
who use that newer software.

Our policy is to make sure the page is roughly configured
correctly for NN4.x and to try and ensure the information is
available to older browsers as well as text readers and text-only
browsers.  Aesthetically, though, we spend the bulk of our energy
on browsers that understand (well, mostly) CSS1.

In no way does this mean I am callous about people's desires to
avoid the hassles of upgrading or uncaring about those people who
have slow connections or old computers.  XML and style sheets make
too much sense to ignore and XHTML/CSS is a much more sensible and
convenient set of tools than 3.2 ever was.  So, I move
forward...not recklessly, but inevitably.

Personally, I used to love Borland's old Turbo C++ for DOS.  I had
Win3.1 installed for months on my 286 before I ever fired it up.
I don't use DOS or Turbo C++ much anymore...or 3.1, either...:).
I didn't run to Win95 right away, but eventually I did upgrade,
despite misgivings.

D

----- Original Message -----
From: <chip.wiegand(at)simrad.com>

I'm just coming into this thread, but wanted to share my thoughts
also. I agree
with you Bryan - regardless of the look, which on most web sites
is just
eye-candy nowadays, the site should be navigable no matter what
browser is
visiting it. I test my pages in a text only browser (Links on
FreeBSD), as well
as NN, IE and Opera.

I also find NN4.x the most reliable, particularly 4.76.

As for Franks comments below, it would be easy to say "give up on
old tech!",
for a general home page. But for a business site that is selling a
product
online, you stand to lose sales by limiting yourself to only IE5,
or whatever
the 'new' technology is deemed to be. I know in my company if we
did that, the
potential lost sale due to the site visitor not being able to load
the page
properly, would be in the thousands of dollars, for just one sale
(we sell
expensive stuff). The people above me would not like that too
much. So for me, I
have to write mark-up that will look good in ALL browsers.
Granted, it's not
easy, but it can be done, and without the extra hassle of a
browser sniffer.

Anyway, just my 2cents worth. :-)
Good day,

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