The issue is whether 'tis nobler to stick to the least-common-denominator formatting so every browser can read "your stuff", or whether you can (boldly) go ahead and take advantage of superior control available in Netscape (and Bill's new thing). To see the ferocity of these discussions, check out the html usenet newsgroup.
Better yet, don't bother. The answer, again, is careful design, consistent discipline, and some programming.
A clever web designer can use straight html to define the structure of the document, then automatically replace the regular html tags with Netscape formatting tags. On the actual web server, the two versions can live side by side. A cgi program can recognize the type of browser being used, and send the appropriate version.
This is similar to having two different printers hooked up to a computer. When you type, you make a word bold using the word processor's controls. The printers use different codes internally to format text - - make it bold, for example. When you print, the printer driver interprets your document for the selected printer.
What I'm arguing for is to have separate drivers for different browsers. With careful design, consistent discipline, and some programming, the benefits outweigh the costs.
The straight html version of this document is not horrible, as long as you keep your browser's width at about six inches (for 10-12 point text). If you use your browser in full screen mode, the lines of text will be so long that they will be very difficult to read. (My favorite use of Microsoft Office Manager is that I align the right edge of my Netscape window with the line separating the tiny icons for Project and Excel.)
Here's an example of the difference between David Siegel's Netscape typography and straight html. A very simple program can replace the html codes with Netscape-specific codes, as mentioned above.
This process creates an interesting twist. Html was designed to facilitate manipulation of documents by computer. To use a program to convert from html to Netscapisms requires strictly consistent use of html. You get flashy output by sticking close to html.
© 1995 by John Robert Boynton
Last update: October 24, 1995.