Re: software-keyholes Digest, Vol 3, Issue 9

Late joiner here.

Finished reading the two available chapters.  Will give detailed comments 
later, but I have one big comment on the web windows argument.

One of the central arguments in the chapter is about control - who gets to 
control the web page, the author or the viewer?

I think it is a bogus argument.  One, because I don't think it really gets 
at the heart of the matter and two, because the audience is supposed to be 
the authors, not the viewers.  If I were an author, and you were making an 
argument that I should do something because the viewer should really have 
control, I'd be instantly resistant to your cause.

I think the argument really should be that well designed software is built 
to respond to the resources available to it.  And, coincidentally, that 
argument *is* made in the chapter.  But trying to recast it as a power 
struggle between user and author distorts the essential issue and alienates 
the essential audience.

If you wish to make a more fine grained argument about the authorial 
responsibility to develop software that will respond flexibly to user 
preferences - that browser resources are like any other computational 
resource - you would be better served by presenting it in a less arbitrarily 
confrontational way.

And in any case, although the confrontational formulation makes for stirring 
reading (plucky freedom loving users fighting the evil tyrranical web 
authors), it should be de-emphasized for the more substantive claims 
relating to graceful handling of the wide range of resources which will be 
used to view the page.

                                    -Tim

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