[thelist] targeting effectively (was: navigation through form posting)

[Matt Liotta]

Again I have to disagree. I have a large enterprise client that has a
detailed database of almost every computer and what browsers are installed
on them in their intranet. Based on the platforms and browsers that must be
supported, it is simply impossible to build a web application that supports
all of them without having special cases. Further, it would cost too much
time and effort to even build a web application for all the special cases.
We had to draw a line in the sand somewhere.

-Matt

On 3/24/02 3:14 PM, "aardvark" <roselli at earthlink.net> wrote:

>> From: Matt Liotta <mliotta at iname.com>
>>
>> The is right on the money. While it is certainly possible to develop
>> sites that cater to everyone, it is a waste of money. It simple costs
>> more to make a site accessible every different browser. If the market
>
> no it doesn't.
>
> there's really no way for me to say that you are wrong and be nice about it...
> you're wrong... terribly, terribly wrong... it hurts me to see how wrong you
> are
> and know that i cannot make you see why...
>
> in case i wasn't clear on that point --
>
> you're wrong.
>
> well, ok, maybe by your coding techniques you're right...
>
>> research says 90% of my users have browsers that support my site than
>> I am doing fine. It would probably cost me more money than I would
>> make to try and get my site to support the other 10%. This is what is
>> known as the law of diminishing returns.
>
> while i really don't mind this mentality out there in the development world
> (because eventually i get those disenchanted clients anyway), it's hard to
> believe this generalized approach to development... not to mention i'm not
> satisfied with a piddly 90%... especially when the numbers are likely skewed
> from that research...
>
> i highly doubt people are doing real market research, and given how poorly
> defined the market is, i've seen too many 'research' firms inadvertently
> skewing the results just by the wording and technique of their research...
>
> after all, if i build a site for a client without knowing anything about their
> audience, and make it IE6.0-only, then my stats will show all non-IE6 users
> fall off after a couple months...  the wrong assumption is that the viewers
> were
> all IE6 users, when in actuality, the site *made* the audience consist of only
> IE6 users...
>
> as for laws of anything, it hurts me when 'diminishing returns' is thrown out
> when people don't understand the economics behind it...
>
> if you want to talk law, talk section 508 in the US... look at case law in the
> UK and Australia regarding accessibility... that's law you are less likely to
> apply incorrectly...