Re: Collected suggestions for index.html changes...

["Curtis C. Hovey" <sinzui cox net>]

On Tue, 2004-01-13 at 13:17, Steve Hall wrote:
> From: "Curtis C. Hovey", Jan 13, 2004 10:21 AM
> > On Tue, 2004-01-13 at 01:50, Steve Hall wrote:
> > > 
> > > So are we writing pages for search engines or for humans? Sorry,
> > > but the title appears as such an afterthought graphically. Indeed
> > > it was, as the entire rest of the site attests.
> > 
> > Yes we are. Not writing for search engine is a common mistake. All
> > users use search engines to find pages. If the search engine cannot
> > understand the page, the user will never find it. The homepage is
> > directed to new users who are just discovering GNOME.
> > 
>   [snip]
> > 
> > HACKING in gnomeweb-wml contains this priority message:
> > 
> >   - Eliminating EVIDENCE OF EVIL such as images-as-text, font tags,
> >   and anything else that doesn't help us shift towards XHTML Strict
> 
> I'm obviously not being clear. Below is a screenshot of the current
> www.gnome.org web site, in a typically configured Internet Explorer
> 6.0.28..., on Windows XP, at default font size, at 810x664:
> 
>   http://www.mindspring.com/~digitect/gnome/gnome.org-screenshot.png
> 
> Barbaric, eh? I'm not exactly certain of what your definition of
> "evil" entails, but mine includes sites like the current gnome.org
> front page which are neither flexible or practically implemented.

Yeah that's ugly.  My wife has the same setup and does have large fonts,
but it doesn't look that ugly.  XP is of the 1027x768 age, so if we want
to get technical, that is not average.  My wife's computer does not wrap
at 800x600 using IE 6.0 with fonts one size larger, on Win98, which is
typical.  The XP machine I have a work shows the site without wrapping
as well.

But what does the line wrap have to do with the image?  Are you
suggesting that we create an image map for the banner links? 

> If this is where our HACKING guidelines or any other rigid adherence
> to theoretical guidelines or standards get us, then we've taken a
> wrong turn somewhere. 
> 
> I appear to be a lone dissenter here. Does anyone else care?

We care, images aren't the solution though.  Anytime a design fall back
on an image, the design has failed.  The font issue I see in the image
is a CSS issue.  I think mastering the CSS is the correct solution.

-- 
__C U R T I S  C.  H O V E Y____________________
sinzui cox net
Guilty of stealing everything I am.