The CSS spec is written well enough that many vector-based
measurements, SVGs, and the like will be include-able in your
webpages, inline or via CSS. For example, use SVG to draw a border
and drop-shadow applicable to any div, that scales with the size of
the div, and scales when the div size changes. Could be very
powerful, but it would only be a component of a page -- hardly as
revolutionary as the invention of the img tag. I think that, design-
wise, it would put some pressure on us to eliminate some of the
boxiness of things.
However, it seems XAML is comparable to XUL+DOM, etc., which is
useful and has turned application development inside Mozilla over to
a great number of dabblers, but has otherwise failed to leave a
significant mark so far outside of niche developers. I suspect XAML/
Avalon, etc., will be a non-starter for most web concerns.
On Jul 14, 2005, at 6:40 PM, David Pietersen wrote:
I am at home, and don't have the research here, but current
statistics show that 97.4% of all devices accessing web content are
running on Windows
...
The content even works on my pda, which is Pocket PC of course ;-)
My whole point is... why bother? Why spend the massive amount of
time (and therefore 'the peoples' money) making it work across all
these technologies when practically everyone who is using it has
access to IE.
Funny. My log reports, which I'm looking at right now, show about 30%
Windows devices, 50% Linux and Unix (the analyzer does not
distinguish), and most of the rest Macintosh. Apparently, less than
half of the Windows users use IE; it's possible that many of those
are actually Opera under a mask. :)
Yes, this site is not common, but from my view your site is not
common either -- because I'm not as concerned about today as I am
about tomorrow, since if my site lasts for only 3 years then 99.9% of
its lifespan is not today. China, India, and many South American
countries are creating localized, "national" operating systems and
apps based on Linux. Since Microsoft claims most copies of Windows in
China are pirated, and Longhorn will prevent piracy of the OS, it's
safe to assume that 1/5 of the planet's population may soon be
without Windows and on Linux.
So it's arguable that your 97.4% may be significantly diminished
within a few years. How long do your websites last? I just rebuilt
one that I first built in 1996, so I'm hoping this next version lasts
10 years -- well into CSS3 Becoming WYSIWYG, the Great XHTML MIME-
type Shakeup, DOMination over Flash, Unicodification of Everything,
and perhaps a dozen other unpredictable events that will define web
development over the next decade.
Stats are useful, but they only tell you about yesterday. The central
reason for standards is to help make tomorrow a bit more predictable.
PS: that was kinda fun, giving names to expected tech events of the
future. :)
--
Ben Curtis : webwright
bivia : a personal web studio
http://www.bivia.com
v: (818) 507-6613
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