On Aug 31, 2006, at 5:49 PM, Felix Miata wrote:
On 06/08/31 16:35 (GMT-0500) Collin Davis apparently typed:
There's nothing specious about stating that the option is available
for users to override author stylesheets if they do in fact wish to
do so. They have the option to, in just about any browser. Is there
anything untrue about users having that option and authority to
personalize the settings on their *personal* computer just the way
they want, and override or disable author stylesheets?
There's a herculean difference in difficulty between using zoom or
changing the default size or switching on or off the author color of
font ability, and acquiring sufficient education to understand CSS
well
enough to override author imposition with user styles. As a practical
matter, it's entirely specious to use user stylesheets to support any
claim of ultimate user power over authors.
I never claimed there wasn't a learning curve or that it wasn't more
difficult to implement user stylesheets. It's also more difficult to
obtain a magnifying glass - as a practical matter, it's entirely
possible (and by using pre-formatted stylesheets such as you offer
completely expectable) for users to claim ultimate power over authors
if they have the need to do so.
The ability and tools for them to do so are out there and quite
readily available. In fact, user stylesheets are the absolute
*epitome* of ultimate user power over authors.
The same stands true for overriding user defaults for the majority of
users, because *they don't know about or care about changing the
defaults*. If it's so absolutely important, they can learn - the
same way people learn to buy a magnifying glass at the store if they
need to see anything else larger than it is.
What's so absolutely important is respect. Overriding defaults gives
users none. If it's important to you that everything on your screen be
tiny, set your puter up that way with your own defaults.
As a web designer, I have the browser settings left to the browser
default, so when creating styles to override user styles, I can see
what the majority of the visitors to sites will see - so I can see
what my boss will see.
Don't make your
visitors to accomodate your preferences. There's no need for you do be
that rude.
Author stylesheets are completely about author preferences - to say
that it's absolutely rude to make visitors accommodate my preferences
is to say to not style my pages.
Is it then rude for browser vendors to accommodate the default
browser preferences? Should there not be some sort of wizard that a
user is walked through when they set up a computer/install a browser
that takes them through ever single possible visual scenario they
might encounter so that they're assured of seeing *their* preference,
not the browser vendor's?
Should there be a process on every single site where a user is
required to set their preferences before proceeding to view the site?
Fluid and flexible designs accommodate users and their
browsers, permitting everyone to be happy except those authors
insistent
that their preference is best for everyone else too.
In the same vein - semantic, clean and valid markup accommodates both
browser vendors and users if the need should arise for flexible
options when it comes to accessibility.
Again, going back to the commercial side of things - in the end, it
doesn't matter who's happy if the person signing my bonus checks
isn't happy.
As long as that's the case (and it will be for a very, very long
time), you're going to have visual designers trying to lock things in
as tight as they can. If, while doing that visually, they also
provide a strong markup foundation, then the options for users can
still be there for those that choose to use them.
This is not a novel position I take. Our web standards organization
agrees with me. http://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/font-size
Since obviously everything the W3C does is, without question, correct?
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