Not to speak for Dave, but I think the big picture of his comments is "everything has a place". I don't think throwing out everything the users are accustomed to and alienating them would get any companies very far.
I was just at a client's the other day, and we were going over a web-based calendar application. One of the complaints from one of the people was that "It isn't as easy or intuitive as Calendar Creator." Now, I had never used that specific application, and indeed, when she loaded it up, it WAS very intuitive. I don't think HTML is intuitive at all; we've all just become accustomed to its kludginess so we know how to go about navigating web-based applications far better than our clients do. >From what I've learned from most clients as to their preferences for web-based applications written in HTML is that they NEED more than just HTML. Applications built with only "standard" HTML form objects, unless you are adding other technologies to the mix (Flash, client-side Java, JavaScript and DHTML) are very counter-intuitive to the general user, no matter how much eye-candy is used to spruce it all up. As far as wanting to make the web more difficult by adding more client side functionality to combat the counter-intuitiveness of HTML, I'd argue that using that functionality depends on the type of application required by the client. Any shop that would use Flash JUST to use Flash has more to worry about than the usability of the applications they build. The bottom line is you have to give the client what they need, no more or no less. It's up to you and the client to determine what that is. --Andy > -----Original Message----- > From: Adrocknaphobia Jones [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 2:07 PM > To: CF-Talk > Subject: RE: The New Macromedia Website > > > But what about the universal standard usability in HTML based > applications? The power of HTML is its standardization. A drop down box > is a drop down box no matter the browser, OS, internet connection. A > user who recognizes an underlined word as a link, can assume that for > all HTML based applications. > > You want to throw away everything the user has become accustomed to, and > rewriting your own rules of usability for every application, and this is > supposed to provide the user with a better experience? Seems like you > are just going to alienate the user, and make surfing the web > increasingly difficult. > > Adam Wayne Lehman > Web Systems Developer > Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health > Distance Education Division > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Dave Watts [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 11:34 AM > To: CF-Talk > Subject: RE: The New Macromedia Website > > > > However, to put things bluntly, HTML sucks. It sucks really > > > bad. It's the worst thing to happen to application interfaces > > > in the short history of computing, next to the QWERTY keyboard. > > > The success of HTML interfaces has been in spite of this > > > awful step backwards in interface design, not because of it. > > > > HTML doesn't suck. It's a beautifully simple means of presenting > > textual information. And with CSS, the potential is there for > > it to be presented just as elegantly as any print-based layout. > > However, HTML wasn't designed to function as an application > > user interface. Which then gets to everything else you said. > > Yes, I just assumed that people would understand that I was criticizing > HTML > as an interface for applications. It's fine for content. > > Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software > http://www.figleaf.com/ > voice: (202) 797-5496 > fax: (202) 797-5444 > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=4 FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4
