Re: Lies, Damned Lies & Statistics

All true, I think.  Netscape 4.x IS outdated and a pain in the backside to
develop for when trying to take advantage of the benefits of CSS.  Just
ignoring the people using it is not in line with what I consider the spirit
of the Web, either.

I don't design "for IE"...I design for W3C Recommendations.  If that means
my pages don't look as good in NN as they do in IE, that is fine as it is in
line with my design standards.

On the other hand, if it means my fonts are too small for Mac users to see
or my images don't have text alternatives for non-visual browsers, then I
have a problem.  Accessibility vs. Appearance...two very different issues
indeed.

IE is not a "superior product"...it simply has superior CSS support, and is
more compliant.  There isn't a product out there that is fully compliant, so
it's always a trade off.

D


----- Original Message -----
From: "Nancy Whittley" <jnwhittley(at)fuse.net>


Applaud Applaud..  I agree with you 100%.   I  am a diehard Netscape
user.  When you discuss these statistics, about how many MSIE users
compared to Netscape and others..  you have to back up and think a minute.

WHY is MSIE more prevalent?  Not because it is a superior product...but
BECAUSE every new computer that is sold with a Windows platform has it
installed on it

Nancy

> From my perspective, if everyone in the design community would pledge to
> read through the WAI materials on the W3C site and the AWARE materials on
> the HWG site, the whole web would be better off. This might also allow us
> to come to some agreement on our terminology. I won't attempt to define
the
> word, "sccessible," here. Rather, I urge you to investigate it for
> yourself, if you haven't already. I will say that accessibility has little
> to do with much in the discussions centering around cross-browser
> compatibility and browser sniffing. It has to do with whether site
visitors
> can get to, or access, information provided on a site, even if it must be
> through a different means than those folks using IE 5.

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