Re: hmmm... servers producing per-browser customised output.

Paul Phillips (psphilli@sdcc8.UCSD.EDU)
Wed, 2 Nov 1994 08:08:22 +0100

On Wed, 2 Nov 1994, anthony baxter wrote:

> Has anyone else noticed this?
>
> Recently I've noticed several servers generating output customised for
> the browser that is being used - eg http://www.netmarket.com

Lots of people have been designing separate areas for text based and
graphics based browsers; as HTML splinters, so too will HTML pages. It's
completely inevitable with the current evolution (or mutation, depending
on your point of view) of the standard.

Concede: HTML is as big a failure as it is a success. I hardly think
that pages like

<UL>
<LI>Click *here* if you're using Mozilla!
<LI>Click *here* if you're using Xmosaic!
<LI>Click *here* if you're using Lynx!
[etc...]
</UL>

were intended when we started playing this logical markup game. (Use of
click *here* intentional, yes, I hate it, this is called point belaboring.)

> Seems to me this is another example of why we need stylesheets - if
> providers are to the point of customising the output for your browser,
> then there's obviously a need for control over presentation.

I think that's been obvious since day 1.5. The question of deployment is
a stickier business.

> I'm dreading the day where pages are just one large imagemap gif of the
> page, exactly as the provider wants it to look.

No no, one large imagemap jpeg. Scarcity of resources and all that...

-Paul Phillips