[6488] in www-talk@info.cern.ch
Re: hmmm... servers producing per-browser customised output.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Paul Phillips)
Wed Nov 2 02:22:18 1994
Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 08:13:39 +0100
Errors-To: listmaster@www0.cern.ch
Errors-To: listmaster@www0.cern.ch
Reply-To: psphilli@sdcc8.UCSD.EDU
From: Paul Phillips <psphilli@sdcc8.UCSD.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list <www-talk@www0.cern.ch>
On Wed, 2 Nov 1994, anthony baxter wrote:
> Has anyone else noticed this?
>
> Recently I've noticed several servers generating output customised for
> the browser that is being used - eg http://www.netmarket.com
Lots of people have been designing separate areas for text based and
graphics based browsers; as HTML splinters, so too will HTML pages. It's
completely inevitable with the current evolution (or mutation, depending
on your point of view) of the standard.
Concede: HTML is as big a failure as it is a success. I hardly think
that pages like
<UL>
<LI>Click *here* if you're using Mozilla!
<LI>Click *here* if you're using Xmosaic!
<LI>Click *here* if you're using Lynx!
[etc...]
</UL>
were intended when we started playing this logical markup game. (Use of
click *here* intentional, yes, I hate it, this is called point belaboring.)
> Seems to me this is another example of why we need stylesheets - if
> providers are to the point of customising the output for your browser,
> then there's obviously a need for control over presentation.
I think that's been obvious since day 1.5. The question of deployment is
a stickier business.
> I'm dreading the day where pages are just one large imagemap gif of the
> page, exactly as the provider wants it to look.
No no, one large imagemap jpeg. Scarcity of resources and all that...
-Paul Phillips
