RE: sorry all

["McGranahan, Jamen" <JMcGranahan@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Let me throw in my two-cents worth: There is an organization that has
attempted to establish standards for Web designing -- W3C.  You can have
your pages validated by their site, which I have done a time or two.  They
also have a validation source for CSS pages and for making sure your pages
are ADA-compatible.  I find it very useful.  I just wish all of the
browser-makers complied & adhered with this (most do).  My thinking is that
if I can have all of my pages W3C compliant, using their XHTML validator,
and my CSS source code validate, AND have all of my pages ADA-compatible
according to W3C, then I've done all I can do.  As Elizabeth has stated,
we'll never be able to please and/or satisfy everyone because of all of the
different hardware/software combinations.  

Jamen McGranahan
Systems Services Librarian
Waggoner Library/Trevecca Nazarene University


-----Original Message-----
From: Elizabeth Thomsen [mailto:et@xxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 7:03 PM
To: innopac@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: sorry all


Oh, I think we all understand your crankiness (I would have called it
"frustration".)  We've made a number of changes to our web catalog lately
all of which work flawlessly in my office, on my PC.  Elsewhere, it's less
predictable.  Actually, we did quite a bit of testing on different browsers
and with different settings, but the variety of hardware, operating systems,
browsers, options and resolutions that people can be using out there is
overwhelming. You can't test every possibility. And although we can
recommend certain software and settings, people have their own reasons for
using what they're using, and sometimes they're using workstations that are
not within their control.

And it's hard to support users with their problems, because they assume that
you're seeing whatever they're seeing, or not seeing, which probably isn't
the case.  And, as I said before, public library patrons who haven't run
into problems with any other website don't want to be told they need to
change or upgrade anything just to use their library catalog.  

So, yes, we understand the frustration!

And I know that I hold two points of view on the web catalog that are
perhaps sometimes in conflict.  I want III to make the web catalog strictly
adhere to standards for HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc., and I want to use every
cool new option, but I also want the catalog to be written so that it will
display and behave flawlessly with any browser, no matter how non-compliant
and no matter how it's configured.

Too much to ask?

Elizabeth

On Mon, 24 Nov 2003, Barb Anderson wrote:

> Sorry about my crankiness regarding AOL.  It affects a lot more than
> catalog access for us here--our University uses VPN for remote access and 
> AOL feels that VPN is insecure and blocks it, so our users can't access 
> databases, etc. if they are at home and using AOL.  I find the concept of 
> VPN being insecure puzzling since the first time I used it was at NASA...
> there are a couple of other ISPs that block VPN, but those I suspect have 
> to do with system loads as they are either free or darned near.
> Barb
> 
> Barbara J. Anderson
> Library Systems Specialist
> Kelvin Smith Library
> Case Western Reserve University
> 11055 Euclid Ave.
> Cleveland, OH 44106-7151
> 
> bja9@xxxxxxxxxx
> (voice) 216-368-2666
> (fax) 216-368-6506
> 
> 
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-- 
Elizabeth Thomsen, Member Services Manager
NOBLE: North of Boston Library Exchange
Danvers MA 01923
et@xxxxxxxxxx

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