Ian,
On 7/2/2010 5:25 AM, Ian Davis wrote:
Patrick,
Without disputing your wider point that HTML hit the sweet point of
usability and utility I will dispute the following:
HTML 3.2 did have:
1) *A need perceived by users as needing to be met*
Did users really know they wanted to link documents together to form a
world wide web? I spent much of the late nineties persuading companies
and individuals of the merits of being part of this new web thing and
then gritting my teeth when it came to actually showing them how to
get a page online - it was a painful confusion of text editors ( no
you can't use wordperfect ), fumbling in the dark ( no wysiwyg ),
dialup ( you mean I have to pay?) and ftp! When MS frontpage came
along the users loved it because all that pain went away but they
could not understand why so many people laughed at the results.
Well, possibly. I am not sure that is how users saw the need.
That's the rub, I think it is hit or miss.
In the publishing area where I worked when the web came along, it was a
question of being able to make low return material available to a wider
audience for less distribution cost.
Not so much being part of a linked web as making material accessible.
How many users saw it that way I cannot say.
I think we all have short memories.
The advantage that HTML had was that people were able to use it before
creating their own, i.e. they were aleady reading websites so could at
some point say "I want to make one of those". The problem RDF is
gradually overcoming is this bootstrapping stage. It has a harder time
because, to be frank, data is dull. But now people are seeing some of
the data being made available in browseable form e.g. at data.gov.uk
or dbpedia and saying, "I want to make one of those".
Good point. But the basic tools to handle data have been around for a
long time.
Why so long to get to the place where users can say: "I want to make one
of those." ?
Which I agree is a very good strategy.
Hope you are having a great day!
Patrick
Ian
--
Patrick Durusau
patr...@durusau.net
Chair, V1 - US TAG to JTC 1/SC 34
Convener, JTC 1/SC 34/WG 3 (Topic Maps)
Editor, OpenDocument Format TC (OASIS), Project Editor ISO/IEC 26300
Co-Editor, ISO/IEC 13250-1, 13250-5 (Topic Maps)
Another Word For It (blog): http://tm.durusau.net
Homepage: http://www.durusau.net
Twitter: patrickDurusau
