Posted by Chaddy2222 on 10/27/06 14:53

John Dunlop wrote:
> Gérard Talbot:
>
> > John Dunlop wrote:
> >
> > > but functionality isn't rendered. The HTML *document* is
> > > rendered, rendered according to the *user-agent*.
> >
> > Correct.
>
> Fine, but...
>
> > > Who is to say what counts as 'rendered as expected'? Expected by who?
> >
> > By the web author.
>
> Well, that's their prerogative, but why would they hold expectations
> about how their document will be rendered if they realise that
> documents are rendered according to the user-agent? It is impossible,
> for example, to know how a document will be rendered by a user-agent on
> a platform or medium that is beyond your ken.

Good point, I am thinking Mobile devices here, they would offten render
things in a different way, just because they just don't have the screen
space of your lap top of desk top PC.

> > > If someone takes it upon themselves to prescribe and proscribe
> > > different renderings, who granted them the authority to do so?
> >
> > W3C.
>
> See my responses to Ben C.
>
> > Let me give you an example, a real one. Just today, I dealt with someone
> > who had this in his webpage:
> >
> > <DIV style="position: absolute; top: 220 px; left: 20px; ">... some
> > image ...</DIV>
>
> Imagine a user-agent where (spatial) position makes no sense; imagine a
> user-agent where stylesheets are off; imagine a user-agent that doesn't
> support absolute positioning; imagine a user-agent who only reads the
> HTML document because all author and user stylesheets have been
> removed; imagine a user-agent with images off; imagine a user-agent
> that doesn't support images. I am sure there are countless scenarios
> beyond my imagination.
>
Yes, my Screen Reader for one.
Take a look at a demo of Jaws, it users IE6 to render pages, but it
only reads the HTML, I am not sure about the oral propities in CSS
though, although I believe recent versions might though.

> > Content and navigation must always be ensured when designing.
>
> Sound advice.

>

I could not agree more.

> > Presentation and formatting as intended by the author can not be
> > ensured though.
>
> Agreed.
>
Yes, and I wish more web designers would share these views, a lot think
it's a visual medium.
--
Regards Chad. http://freewebdesign.cjb.cc

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