On 28 Feb 2003, at 10:36, Peekstok, Anna wrote:

> So which is "best" -- leave control in the user's hands
> and shrug off concerns about their esthetic experience, or
> try to exert some control and risk impairing usability for
> users with extreme conditions?

My philosophy is to leave as much control in the user's 
hands as I can. I figure it's more important for me to 
meet their needs than my (often questionable) design 
aesthetics, and I *know* they know their needs better 
than I do!

I've worked as a desktop publisher, so I understand the 
need some people have for detailed, precise control 
over where things show up on screen. But part of the 
web philoshopy (from the beginning) was to give the 
consumer of the information control over how they see 
it. I'd rather spend my productive time providing valuable 
content than trying to make the site look exactly the 
same on every web-browing device, forever and ever, 
amen. ;-)

The web isn't just a passive, "read the fine website" 
medium. It invites participation from visitors - interaction 
- and (to me) giving a visitor a satisfying and successful 
interaction with a site is much more important than 
obsessing about having the page look exactly the way 
it looks on the designer's monitor.

So that's why I design the way I do, in case anyone 
needed another bit of trivia to keep in their already-
overloaded brains this rainy Friday in Hawaii.

David
dvjones(at)ksbe.edu
 

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