[thelist] Site check: Staples.com

[Shawn K. Quinn]

On Wed, 2005-09-21 at 10:44 +0100, Ian Anderson wrote:
> Shawn K. Quinn wrote:
> 
> > Robert Gormley wrote:
> >>It's now inappropriate to publish any closed proprietary format material 
> >>on the web?
> > 
> > I would say for the majority of cases, it always has been.
> 
> Sorry, but this is just tosh. Have you never read "Weaving the Web" by 
> Tim Berners-Lee?
> 
> The whole point of the web was the URI - a resource identifier for any 
> entity, which could be a word doc, PDF, database, movie, sound file or 
> html page. You can publish anything that is appropriate to the audience.

Yes, and that audience is a worldwide audience which could be using any
number of devices (some of which bear only a passing resemblance to what
you and I call a "PC").

> It's not in question that there are accessibility issues involved, and 
> that it would be good practice to supply material in various formats 
> where relevant, but to issue such blanket condemnation of proprietary, 
> standard formats is just wrong-headed, in my view.

You've never used something besides a PC running Microsoft Windows to
access the Web, then.

-- 
Shawn K. Quinn <skquinn at speakeasy.net>