I don't know about most folks, but most of my clients wouldn't know the
answers to most of these questions, and even if I explained all the issues
to them, they would still most likely say "do what you think best."
I personally think that the answer, in cases where a web site is targeted
at a general audience, is to say something like this to the client:
"You need to be aware that web sites can look dramatically different on
different platforms and different browsers if they are not designed
correctly. Things such as monitor size, resolution, number of colors, and
browser capabilities all vary from person to person. You can pay us 10x our
normal rate to design your site specifically for each potential
configuration (and even THAT wouldn't work because you can't auto-detect
monitor resolution or size), or you can have us create one site that is
designed for maximum compatibility across all these variables. The way to
do that is to create a site that is no wider than about 590 pixels [WebTV
ain't big enough on our radar yet, sorry], uses a common color palette of
216 colors, and is written in HTML that is recognized and interpreted
correctly by browsers from Netscape 3.x, Internet Explorer 3.x and America
Online 3.x and higher. In cases where we can build in additional
functionality for use by higher level browsers without harming the site's
functionality on older browsers, we will do so."
I really don't think that most clients care whether you use Javascript,
Java, etc. They care about the site loading fast, displaying well, and
meeting their needs.
The web developer needs to know the issues that factor in to this and
choose how best to implement the client's vision.
Just my 2�.
-- Gary
At 5:37 PM -0400 3/6/99, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>I really think that this is the answer.
>
>Remeber the commercial where the guy said that an educated consumer
>was his best consumer? I think that part of our job is to educate
>our clients and that might begin by creating an audience profile
>from day ONE.
>
>Client approaches me about a website. Okay .... before we ever begin
>to decide what you want to do, let's decide HOW you intend to to do
>it (on the web of course).
>
>Just by asking your client these questions will lead to an education.
> A decent client will ask .. "gee, what difference do some of these
>options make?" and you should then educate them and let them make the
>decision. Keep the answers on file. A time may come to change some
>of the answers. Document the changes. Your designers and programmers
>can then use these answers when performing work; rather than just
>assuming.
>
>These questions may not be exactly on target. I am just writing them
>now.
>
>screen resolution: 1280x760,800x600,640x480
>colors: web safe,macintosh,windows 95, windows 3.1
>color depth: 64K,256,16
>
>which o/s do you want to design for?
>mac
>win95
>win3.1
>winnt
>xwindows (I wonder about differences here)
>
>OR do you want to design for a browser/os combo?
>nn 2.0/mac
>nn 3.0/mac
>nn 4.0/mac
>ie3.0/win3.1
>ie4.0/win3.1
>ie4.50/win98
>
>Or do you want to design for a ... umm .. a standard:
>html 2.0
>html 3.2
>html 4.0
>
>java:anywhere,nowhere,depends
>
>javascript:anywhere,nowhere,depends
>javascript:1.0,1.1,1.2
>Do you want javascript to work as well as possible in all possible
>os/browser combinations or do you just want to write javascript for
>one os/browser or according to the javascript standard itself.
>
>I think somethign like this could be a few pages long. You get your
>client to sign off on every question. It might take an entire day to
>go over everything .. depending on your client.
>
>Then you design/create accordingly. The only surprise will occurr if
>the client was not educated. But you can show that he indeed agreed
>to do it the way you did it. You might then decide to modify the
>above document and redesign/create accordingly AND then you have
>excellent reason to create a new budget for this.
>
>Peter
---------------------------------------
Gary T. Almes, Words In Progress
voice: 410-515-9714 fax: 410-515-0091
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
web: http://www.wordsinprogress.com
ICQ: 13464614 AIM: GaryTAlmes
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