[iBook] Need a job? Don't use a Mac | CNET News.com

[Fred Stevens K2FRD]

At 22:50 -0500 30/10/2005, Buddy Brannan wrote:
>Actually, this problem is bigger than just not supporting Macs. In fact, this is a problem that's been getting worse since, well, about 1995 or so. I blame WYSIWYG Web publishing software that requires no knowledge of the underlying code that makes the sites work...I mean, apart from generating exceedingly sloppy code, these tools, in my always humble opinion, promote over-all sloppy design with no knowledge. Anyone can call him/herself a webmaster and yet not know something as simple as what an alt tag is, as an example. Then, you get sites optomized for M$IE, which pretty much breaks all the Web standards.

I just got in, read the posts for this thread and must say that the above paragraph seems to sum up my experience:  M$ seems to think it's its own world, that if the rest of the world can't use its own html ("MSHTL 5.x"), then tough. I keep six browsers on hand (Netscape 7, Netscape Comm 4.9, IE 5.x, Safari, Firefox, and iCab); and *almost* always, I can eventually download a website, but for those exceptions, I am in a position (retired) to ignore them, However, if it ticks me off enough, I'll send off a nasty email; usually, this is to someone or an organization which has used MS Frontpage or other MSHTML product for a WYSIWYG. Similar to what was stated in some of the posts, this seems to be changing toward our side due to Mac's increasing proportion of the personal computer market (IDC says something like 4.3% of sales, but ignores the upgrade capabilities of Macs - my own website generally attracts technical persons [ham radio operators] and my tracker shows up to 17% of all hits are from Macs). A few years ago, the FCC, as technical a Federal Agency as they come, had its application pages composed with MS-only html. That didn't last long when not just ham radio operators, but most every other of the hundreds of FCC-licensed services (e.g., aural microwave booster, aeronautical and fixed, digital electronic message service, to name only a few) complained very vocally to the FCC. Much of this html sloppiness is due to agencies', organizations', and individual ignorance: they just don't know any better than to use MS html products. At least at the agency and organization levels, if they don't know cross-platform and multi-browser html, they shouldn't be webmasters. It'll take time, but they're getting the message.

Fred

-- 
73 de Fred K2FRD, VO2FS
http://homepage.mac.com/k2frd/K2FRD.html
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