[thelist] Jumping In With Both Feet

martin.p.burns at uk.pwcglobal.com martin.p.burns at uk.pwcglobal.com
Tue Dec 11 08:35:30 CST 2001


Memo from Martin P Burns of PricewaterhouseCoopers

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To:   thelist at lists.evolt.org
Subject:  Re: [thelist] Jumping In With Both Feet


>should web development be driving with the
>hand brake on because of users who have made this decision?

That's one of the central principles of user-centred design, yes.

>Moving towards the separation of content from design using
>XHTML, CSS and the like will mean that more pages will be legible in both
>legacy and standards-compliant browsers (albeit with different styling and
>functional capabilities).

ie, it won't look or work properly. There are few users (and fewer clients)
who would put up with that.

>> he doesn't see any need to upgrade - his current browser seems to work
just
>>fine to him!

>It will work very well, as long as web development stays at the same level
>as when Win95 / IE4.x was released.

But does it actually matter? Really, what *user* benefits does anything
introduced since then actually offer? All the real new benefits to users
have been unrelated to client-side improvements - they've been
how the organisation running the site operates and what services it
provides.
All the stuff around standards, and separation of content & styling, are
*designer* benefits.
A user's (justifiable) response is "Not my problem". Why should they spend
money on phone
bills so Nathan Barley types can have an easier life?

Martin

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