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  • From: Jeni Grant <jeni.grant AT pobox.com>
  • To: "Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/" <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [internetworkers] High-end web site authoring tools
  • Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 04:10:09 +0000 (UTC)

On Thu, 10 Apr 2003 machett AT ibiblio.org wrote:

: Do recent or current versions of the high-end (read: expensive, not
: necessarily better, just more costly) tools skillfully handle
: cross-browser and cross-platform issues? Hell, do any low-end ones do
: it?

Bwahaha. You're funny.

Long story short: No.

Long story summed up: No, but most of the WYSIWYGs have come a long
way since their early days. Dreamweaver, FrontPage, and GoLive all
produce somewhat human readable code, even if Dreamweaver and GoLive like
to add in extra <p> tags, and FrontPage is entirely too reliant on its
extraordinarily buggy and insecure extensions. Netscape still isn't
anything to write home about.

The only way to get truly cross-browser, cross-platform code (or, for that
matter, standards-compliant) is to write it yourself. Memorize every
little aspect of each major platform, each major browser (don't forget the
different versions!), and which bits of CSS and HTML work best with
which. Then, one day, if you're lucky, you'll have a page which works
reasonably well in most browsers and vaguely resembles what your client
provided you with without being over 50K. If you're really damn good, it
validates, too.

*cough* Sorry. Guess what *I* spent all day doing?

: Why the hell does 18pt Geneva appear huge on my workstation, but my
: system at home displays it just slightly larger than I'd like; shouldn't
: 18pt Geneva _BE_ 18pt Geneva?

Because points are relative to the platform you're on. Windows machines
have 96 PPI (pixels per inch) instead of Macintosh's 72 PPI. Because a
point equals 1/72 of a inch, a point is 1.3 pixels on a Windows box, but a
more appropriate 1 pixel on a Mac.

http://developer.apple.com/internet/fonts/fonts_sizing.html

Does your head hurt yet? ;)

The web is an interesting medium, especially when compared to the more
traditional presentation mediums like print and film. When print and film
are done, they're done. They don't change dramatically based on what
they're being viewed with. The web, on the other hand, is dynamic. You can
be 100% assured that your content will be viewed 90 different ways to
Sunday, and used for things that you didn't think were possible. At least
for me, its frustrations are also what makes it fascinating.

For a long time the average user has considered the web to be "like"
something, and it's now beginning to sink in that - no - this is something
else. Something new. It's a great time to be involved with the 'net, even
as frustrating as the job market is now.

-jeni-

--
...loving someone else is always so much easier... --jewel, "barcelona"

jeni.livejournal.com // geekchyk.org // photos.geekchyk.org




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