Re: Am I in a time warp?

>Hi All,
>
>I can't seem to break out of the notion of developing for a 640x480
>resolution with 256 colors, 3.0 browsers, and so on and so forth.
>
>My problem, is that I am incorporating style sheets into web sites and have
>a great deal of frustration with the compatibility issues. I have only been
>reviewing and tweaking the CSS to work in the 4.0 browsers. Much to my
>dismay the 3.0 browsers ignore almost everything (at least NS does).
>
>I am not knocking Style Sheets. I love them. But should I be scrapping the
>640x480, 3.0 browser compatibility issues and focus more on the 800x600, 
>4.0
>browser issues. The backward compatibility thing is geting impossible. I'll
>be searching the archives but what are now considered the development
>standard for the industry.


Just a couple of weeks ago, I faced the same question.  I was getting very 
frustrated at not being able to use a lot of the techniques I wanted to use, 
because they were 4.0 tags or CSS or somesuch.  (We had a design standard of 
800x600 res, HTML3)

So I put a case to our editors and the site manager that since we had 11.1% 
of users having either HTML3 or earlier, or unknown browsers or Opera or AOL 
we could either (a) keep the current standard and put up with a lot of 
things I'm being asked to do remaining unavailable or (b) say goodbye to 
this 11.1% progressively as we move the standard up to include HTML4, DHTML, 
CSS, and Javascript as pages come up for review.

To my relief, they decided that they wanted these newer things more than the 
11.1% they might lose.

(I say 'might' because some will update their browsers, some will put up 
with the non-functioning features, and some will have browsers that will 
work anyway e.g. Opera might well work for all I know but I don't design 
with it in mind)

So far we haven't had any pages designed any different but the weight off my 
shoulders is enormous, no longer having to restrict my writers (I have 8 
content producers as well as various editors, technicians and other 
contributors) to old technology.  And most of all I no longer have to listen 
to them whining "Why can't we do this?"

The key is to look at your logs.  You have to lose some of them anyway 
sooner or later as the world moves along.  It's just a point of when.  That 
is a business decision, just like the decision when to move premises or when 
to renovate a retail store or change your logo etc.

Cheers,
Mike Kear
AFP Web Development
Windsor, NSW, Australia
http://www.afp.zip.com.au
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