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Re: LYNX-DEV don't give a damn?


From: Steve Switzer
Subject: Re: LYNX-DEV don't give a damn?
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 11:36:41 PDT

> > 
> >     "I will return to including a listing of direct hyper-links on
> > my pages, but you folks using Lynx have got to understand that there
> > is a very, very large group of authors out there that don't give a
> > damn if you can't view their pages."
> > 
> > What do you think of that? A private look into what really goes on
> > in their minds? I think this is a netiquette issue. We don't accept
> > the position that "you people on mailing lists have just got to
> > understand that there are advertisers who don't give a damn about
> > your lists and your netiquette".
> 
> That's not spamming; the writer's opinions are short-sighted and stupid,
> but it doesn't qualify as abuse of the mail system IMHO. ( Also, the
> opinion you quoted has the writer referring to web pages, not mailing
> lists, and to authors, not adveritsers. )
> 
> Obviously (perhaps it's not so obvious) we want web pages to be accessible
> to Lynx, etc., etc., etc., but the way to do that is to draw these people
> out into the open and to exercise the moral authority we have (lynx is the
> premiere browser for sites offering free internet access, and for for
> blind and visually-impaired people).  
> 
> I fully expect many web authors to say that "there are lots of people who
> don't give a damn", and I wouldn't want to drive them out of a discussion
> because they say that.  If they feel enough pressure to make their web
> pages lynx-enabled then they can say whatever they like. 
> 
> 
> Doug

My web presence provider tells me that only 77.9% of accesses to pages at his 
site (anything hosted at baremetal.com) are from Netscape 2.x, 3.x, or MSIE 3. 
 Yet many sites rely on features like Frames and Javascript that are only 
visible to those 77.9% of their potential users.  The original author's 
statement that "there is a very, very large group of authors out there that 
don't give a damn if you can't view their pages" indicates not only a threat 
to lynx page developers and viewers (only .3% of accesses were from lynx 2.x) 
but to the other 20 odd percent as well.  In addition to browsers that simply 
can't be used to view certain pages, there are also people who don't want to 
take 5 minutes to load a silly gratuitous image mapped hypertext link.

It all comes down to 2 things that have nothing to do with the public's image 
of lynx:

1) Most page authors only ever test their pages using a single browser.  They 
also only ever test their pages using their direct link between their PC and 
their ISP, so they never realize that their pages are slow to use.

2) Most page authors like to use "nifty" stuff because it makes them feel 
sophisticated.  They also compare their pages to sites that spend tens of 
thousands of dollars - they look slick, they all have image maps, they're 
starting to all use java or javascript, etc.  "I want that! I'll just copy 
their source and mine will look just as good!"

Sorry for being a little long winded, 
Steve.

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