Re: [boost] Re: [website] Oh the fun..

From: Victor A. Wagner Jr. (vawjr_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-04-28 02:54:50

At Wednesday 2005-04-27 19:36, Rene Rivera wrote:

[deleted...not because it's irrelevant, it's NOT, but because it would 
obscure what I find myself compelled to say]

>>As for the links, I agree with Victor; changing link formatting is yet 
>>another symptom of overly eager webdesigners' trying to control every 
>>last pixel on the screen because their precious design "depends" on it, 
>>while breaking usability for users who use a less common configuration.
>
>As I said in the other post.. It's not. It's just not a possibility to 
>accommodate user level settings without also abandoning design almost 
>completely. The best we can hope for is to design in enough flexibility to 
>make the majority of users happy.

In this case "majority of the users happy" won't cut it.
You're entirely ignoring many of the visually impaired and that's unacceptable.
There's a _reason_ that browsers allow users to display things in differing 
manners. so pick one of the following

1) I don't give a damn about the visually impaired (very unlikely)
2) I do, but not enough to do anything "extra" because of them (probably 
unlikely also)
3) I didn't even _think_ about the visually impaired in regard to this 
(most likely)

I could go on and on about how programming is one of the few well paying 
jobs that visually impaired people can do quite well (normally because they 
can control how things look on their system), but I'll stop here other than 
to say: "Arbitrarily knowingly making thing difficult for a segment of the 
population is anathema to me, and it should be to all of us."
So, now you know, and answer 3 is no longer valid.

One of the guiding principles given at my 1st programming job (39 years 
ago) was that we were to make simple things simple, and all things possible 
(obviously, to the best of our ability).  Making the boost webpage 
inaccessible without jumping through hoops, doesn't qualify, IMO.

>>The website should just provide structured content and leave it up to the 
>>user's browser and preferences to do the final formatting.
>
>That's a nice dream.. And with the current arrangement you can attain 
>it.  The current design is entirely CSS based. Which means that you can 
>turn it off, or use your own design. -- Of course that's assuming your 
>browser will let you.
>
>
>--
>-- Grafik - Don't Assume Anything
>-- Redshift Software, Inc. - http://redshift-software.com
>-- rrivera/acm.org - grafik/redshift-software.com
>-- 102708583/icq - grafikrobot/aim - Grafik/jabber.org
>_______________________________________________
>Unsubscribe & other changes: http://lists.boost.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/boost
>

Victor A. Wagner Jr.      http://rudbek.com
The five most dangerous words in the English language:
               "There oughta be a law"