Re: UKNM: Web Usage Stats

[Robb Masters]

From: Daniel Bambach <

danmanomniscience [dot] co [dot] uk

>

> If your objective is to build your site to work right down to the lowly

> text-only browser, then you shouldnt be giving a monkeys what browser

> people look at your site with. If on the other hand you want to employ

> newer technologies then you have to start eliminating some browsers, and

> which do you loose? Well, the least popular I presume.


No, no, no - you don't lose anyone, that my point. Losing (read:

rejecting, alienating, etc.) part of your target audience is a bad 

idea. But that doesn't mean compromising your site, or ignoring 

the potential of new technologies.


<blatant SelfPublicity="on">


Take The National Lottery web site. It uses Flash, Shockwave and

Java to enhance the user experience. But none of them are mandatory

- there are always alternatives, either user-selectable or automatic.

This goes right down to the level of graphics - if a user has a non-

graphical browser then images are replaced by appropriate text. In

this way all information is accessible to all potential users. Sure

there are one or two features that, say, text-only users can't access 

(i.e. Shockwave games) but they're not an essential part of the 

experience. This isn't even a huge amount of work. Once you've built 

a site for the top four browsers adding in alternative text and 

graphics for lower end users isn't a big deal (though it's better

to take them into account from the start).


</blatant>


Regards,


Robb

-- 

Robb Masters

rmastersredkite [dot] com

Project Manager

Red Kite New Media   http://www.redkite.com/