CompuNotes
Notes from The Cutting Edge of Personal Computing
July 4, 1997 - Happy 4th of July to all Americans!
Issue 85

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CONTENTS
My Notes:
1=> Contest Winner and New Link to our New Homepage!
mailto:pgrote@i1.net
2=> This Issue's Winner!
3=> A Thank You to Judy Litt!

Interviews:
4=> Interview with Cari Burnstein, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com

Reviews:
5=> Product: Electronic Arts Sports Edition Gamepad Pro
Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com

6=> Clicakbales!

--- BEGIN ISSUE

1=> Contest Winner and New Homepage!

Well, we went and got our own Domain Name! Can you believe
CompuNotes was finally available from InterNic? Anyway, the new page
can be found at <http://www.compunotes.com/main.html>. Doug and I
are very happy to have this space and our domain name!

The links we received were fun to look at! Please see your email
soon for a message from Doug explaining the new link. Please update
your pages post haste as we will be submitting our new name to the
search engines shortly.

The winner of our Contest was chosen randomly by my daughter,
Cassie. She selected Lowell Lutz at
mailto:wwwebspinner@geocities.com. Lowell has been contacted and the
following software will be out to him shortly:

PC Handyman by Symantec
Partition It by Quarterdeck
Kiloblaster
Thunderscape by SSI
Internet Utilities by Starfish Software

Thanks to all that played!

2=> Winner!
This issue's winner: dougdal@INDY.NET

3=> Judy Litt - Thanks!

Many of you who have been with us since we were CyberNews know Judy
and her work. As our first webmaster, Judy graciously and
brilliantly updated our now extinct site on AOL. As we became more
and more tied to the web, Doug took over the webmastering duties
weekly -- we still used Judy's site as a reference site to show off
<grin>

I closed my AOL account for a variety of reasons you will read about
in an essay in a future issue. We just wanted to take the time and
thank Judy for all her tireless effort in the webmastering duties
and product review positions.

Judy is now a guide on the MiningCo. website. You can check her out
at <http://graphicdesign.miningco.com/> She also owns her own
Graphics Design firm and always does dynamite work! You can see her
portfolio by clicking on <http://www.qualitty.com/>

Thanks Judy for all the help and support!

4=> Interview with Cari Burnstein, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com

This week's interview is with Cari Burstein. Never heard of Cari?
Cari heads up the "Best Viewed with Any Browser" campaign. If you
surf the web you've most likely run across websites with little
buttons that say "Best Viewed with Netscape" or "Best Viewed with
Internet Explorer". This is all fine and dandy for those with
Netscape or Internet Explorer, but for those who don't the pages can
look like a disaster. Cari and others are attempting to stop the
proliferation of browser-specific tags. In this interview, he
explains why.

Doug: For our readers that may not have heard of the "Best Viewed
With Any Browser" campaign, please explain what it is and the
purpose behind it.

Cari: The "Best Viewed With Any Browser" campaign, also known as the
Campaign for a Non Browser Specific WWW, is an attempt to bring
attention to the trend of web site design that excludes many users
of the net, and to reverse it. Designing a web site that is usable
by everyone as a general rule doesn't require a lot of extra effort,
and it makes it possible to reach all users of a site, not just ones
using a certain browser. There are many movements on the web against
the big browsers (Netscape and MSIE), but most of them are focused
against certain browsers. This campaign focuses on inclusivity-
everyone should be able to use the net- not just the people with the
fastest computers, the fastest Internet access, or the most free
time. The campaign makes suggestions on ways to improve the
accessibility of web sites, and has links to many other sites with
further information. The campaign site also encourages people who
have joined the campaign to display the "Best Viewed With Any
Browser" graphic or text on their pages, so they can make a
statement that their site is designed to be used by everyone, and
also so they can encourage others to do the same.

Doug: Why should web surfers care about whether sites are designed
for all browsers?

Cari: There are a lot of reasons why web surfers should care if
sites are designed for all browsers. One major one is that the web
is getting more and more focused towards the latest release software
from the big browser companies. That means that unless you don't
mind spending the time downloading several megabyte browser releases
and plug-ins from the net whenever you visit sites that require
them, you will be locked out of a lot of sites, or unable to use
many of the features of these sites. It also means that if you
prefer a browser besides Netscape or Internet Explorer, you will
often be unable to use sites, and if you prefer an older (often more
stable) version of a browser, you may be unable to visit some sites.

Also, if you have a slow Internet connection (or even an average
one), you may not want to wait for graphics loading on web sites,
but many web sites don't bother to use alternative text on their
pages, which makes them nearly impossible to navigate without
graphics loaded. Basically it comes down to a matter of choice- the
web was designed with platform and browser independence in mind, and
browser specific design denies people the right to choose the
browser, platform, and viewing style that works for them. There are
a lot of browsers out there with a variety of useful features that
Netscape and Internet Explorer don't have, and Netscape and Internet
Explorer can't be used by everyone even if they did fill the needs
of every web surfer. It is vital that the choice of browser be left
to the web surfer, not to the web designer.

Doug:  Why should website designers care?

Cari: Web site designers should care about designing their sites to
be viewable by everyone for many reasons as well. First of all, most
web site designers are aiming to bring as many users to their sites
as possible. Designing so that many people can't use the site or
can't navigate it well obviously runs contrary to that goal. The
amount of work involved in making most sites usable by any browser
is not very much, and site design that is compatible with all
browsers is also less likely to break in whatever new version of a
browser comes out in the future. In addition to people using
browsers other than Netscape and Internet Explorer, there are a lot
of people viewing web pages with images off. Providing alternative
text and navigation alternatives for image maps are necessary if you
don't want these people leaving your site because they can't
navigate it. There are many site designers that don't realize that
their sites are unusable for some users, and there are others that
don't realize how easy it can be to make their sites usable by all.
Any site can be made usable in any browser, most can be made to be
fully legible and easy to read in any browser, and a large
percentage can even look nice in any browser. HTML was designed to
be browser and platform independent, and it's a shame to see people
locked out of sites because the designer didn't make the effort to
make the page usable by everyone.

In addition to the issues of user choice and ease of design, there
is also the issue of accessibility. What many people don't realize
is that not everyone can use Netscape or Internet Explorer. First of
all, there are a lot of systems that these browsers won't run on,
both new and old (WebTV, Nokia 9000, Amiga, Newton) and there are a
lot of people using older computers that can't use these browsers-
old PCs and Macs, some variants of UNIX. In addition, many users use
other browsers to save money (most freenets only have lynx available
to their users, and libraries and schools often only have computers
that can run lynx or other text based browsers) or because they have
special needs that can only be met by those browsers (blind users of
the web for instance use speech readers that are mostly lynx based).
If your site is just a personal web page then you may not feel an
obligation to provide access to everyone, but if you're providing
publicly funded information or software tech support or something
along those lines, then you should definitely consider yourself
obligated to make the information accessible to everyone (it may
even be covered under the ADA).

One thing that people often forget in web design is that although
there are a lot of ways to design a site to make it aesthetically
pleasing, the vast majority of information that users of the web are
looking for is textual. Taking useful textual information and making
it inaccessible because of the lack of support for navigation for
all browsers is one of the most common mistakes made by web sites,
and one of the most easily fixed. Yes, it's nice to make a page look
nice with graphics and color and design, but when it comes right
down to it, it's the content that people usually come for, and it's
the content that will bring people back. Make that content
accessible.

Doug: Do you think the W3C's recent recommendation of the HTML 3.2
standard will help?

Cari: The W3C's recommendation of HTML 3.2 is a great step towards
making the standards for the web fit with the needs of today's web
sites. It's obviously important not to forget that there are
browsers that don't support HTML 3.2. This doesn't mean that people
shouldn't use HTML 3.2 in their sites, but they should definitely
keep in mind how HTML 3.2 attributes will degrade in older browsers
(tables are especially important to keep an eye on). There's this
perception of the W3C that a lot of people share that they are
behind the times and that the browser makers need to introduce new
stuff because the W3C won't. That's very wrong. The W3C has been
introducing some incredibly useful stuff, and they keep doing so,
but it takes time for what they introduce to be discussed and tested
and evaluated to make sure that new HTML features degrade decently
in older versions of HTML, and that they flexible so that the
various browsers and platforms can interpret the features in the way
that works best for them.

When Netscape introduces a new HTML extension, such as frames, they
don't think very hard about degradability and they don't spec out
how the HTML extension works exactly. Their way of describing the
way an HTML extension should work is how it is displayed in their
browser. This type of rushing to get new features in without
thinking them out thoroughly and without specifying how they should
work leads to major incompatibilities with other browsers and can
also lead to clashes if other browser makers such as Microsoft make
up their own ways to interpret these proprietary extensions or make
up other extensions that perform similar functions. This turns into
a huge mess and next thing you know, nothing works with anything
else. That's why standards are so important- they make the browser
and platform independence of the web possible. Proprietary
extensions aim to take that away. Another big problem is that the
big two browsers are so slow to implement useful features of HTML
that are introduced or encouraged by the W3C. Style sheets are just
finally coming to Netscape and MSIE, PNG is still not supported
except by plugins, and there even some HTML 2.0 features that
Netscape and MSIE don't support. So even though the W3C keeps
pumping out useful additions, they probably won't come into common
use unless the big browsers make an effort to support them. At the
same time, the W3C has tried to make HTML 3.2 reflect common
practice in HTML today, but there are some things they just can't
implement into the standards, such as frames, which were implemented
in a horrible way and need to be totally reworked if they are to
ever be fully useful and degradeable.

Doug: Why you? What led you to start this campaign?

Cari: I started this campaign because I was truly saddened by the
degree to which the web has really succumbed to browser specific
design. I'm a web designer both for myself and at the company I work
for, and I have always found it very important to design pages that
could be readable by everything. As a person who uses the web from
all sorts of different places, I really get frustrated by pages that
don't make an effort to be readable by everyone. I mostly use
Netscape and Cyberdog myself on my macs, but I often browse the web
using lynx from any of my accounts, and I often use the web from
other people's computers, using whatever browser happens to be handy
(for instance when I visit my mom, her computer is too slow to run
Netscape, so I usually use lynx from my shell account). Netscape is
really lacking in a lot of the things that could make it a great
browser, but I often am forced to use it to view pages, and it
drives me nuts that they command the market when their products are
so mediocre.

As a Mac and UNIX user, my concerns about platform independence run
very deep, but anyone who cares about having the option to choose
for themselves what platform they use should be concerned. Netscape
and Microsoft both want to make the web something that can only be
used by people using their products, which naturally would limit the
web to platforms that would run their products. I definitely don't
want to see this happen. Competition in the marketplace is great and
can produce wonderful improvements in technology, but this
competition should be over interface and control and other such
features in a browser, not over HTML itself.

I know I can't change the web by myself, but I can make my pages
usable by everyone, and encourage others to do the same. Accessible
design by example can spread one page at a time, and in the last few
months since I started this campaign, about 650 pages have joined.
Each of these pages in turn encourages others to join, and the more
accessible pages the better. So although each person only changes
their own site(s), they can make a real difference over time.

Doug: What do you think it would take to get the two major browser
publishers (Netscape and Microsoft) to adhere to the approved
standards? Or is it already too late?

Cari: I think that the only way the big two will truly start to
adhere to standards is if it increases their market share and their
power over the market. Right now, Netscape has learned that making
their own rules works for them- there are tons of pages on the net
telling people they must use Netscape to view their site- they
basically have a large part of the Internet doing their marketing
for them. Microsoft has taken a very different tact- they have been
talking about their standards support all along, while working as
hard as they can to put themselves in a position to provide features
that no other browsers do. They've been better about standards than
Netscape, but only because it helped distinguish them in the
marketplace, and they still make a huge point of introducing their
own non standard technologies in an effort to make sites dependent
upon their browser and also to make browser users dependent upon
Windows (as evidenced by their platform specific ploy with Active
X). I think there's a chance that there will be a backlash and that
Netscape and Internet Explorer will start to make more of an effort
to adhere to standards, but this will only happen if the users of
the browsers themselves start to speak out against browser specific
design and start requesting that the pages they visit (especially
the commercial ones) are made to be used with any browser. Right now
incompatibility seems to be a market advantage for the big two. Only
a change in the demands consumers place on the browser companies
will change the way they work. I'd say that a new browser that put
all the others to shame might make a difference, but unfortunately,
the market isn't motivated or educated enough to adopt a new browser
just because it's better. I wish that the big two would pay
attention to standards, but I don't expect it to happen unless
something major causes them to deter from their current paths.


Doug:  What is the status of the campaign?

Cari: The campaign is doing really well right now. The main campaign
page is getting about 500 visitors a day, and several sites join the
campaign every day. I've had people volunteer to do translations of
the campaign page to several languages (French, Spanish, German,
Portuguese, Dutch, and Danish) and there are several other language
translations on the way. I've also had over 30 graphics donated for
use with the campaign, and about 650 sites have joined so far. I
don't have very much time to spend on the campaign myself, so I rely
quite heavily on suggestions from other participants on useful sites
and information to link to. But I definitely try and keep the
information on the site as up to date as possible.

Doug:  What do you think the future holds for the web?

Cari: The future of the web is as yet undetermined, but I can see
two prevailing forces that may make a huge difference on the future.
First of all, there is the trend towards browser dependence which if
victorious could lead to a web that is for the most part usable only
by platforms with a large enough market share to get that browser
developed for their platform. This would probably be Windows, with
perhaps the MacOS and UNIX still being in the loop, perhaps not,
depending on how successful Microsoft is on their drive to take
over. The other trend is towards more variety of platforms and
devices on the net which drive browser independence. We're already
seeing several devices hitting the marketplace that are bringing the
web to users of systems other than the types of computers that
people think of as usually using the net. WebTV, Nokia 9000,
Newtons, Pippin, Sega Saturn, WinCE, Pilots, and NCs are all devices
which don't fit in with the browser dependence trend, and if they
become popular enough before the browser dependence trend goes too
far, then the web will probably begin trending more heavily towards
browser independence. Other factors that play heavily in this are
countries with low net access getting on more heavily, more strain
on the available bandwidth, and the congestion of the net. Depending
on what happens as these factors work together can make a huge
difference in the future of the net. Major increases in the average
speed of connection may push more browser dependence, while major
increases in net congestion may push more browser independence. It's
still very much too soon to predict what will happen, although of
course my hopes are for a web viewed by a vast variety of devices
with browser independence being a huge concern and net congestion
decreasing due to new technologies which place less strain on the
available bandwidth (style sheets, PNG, HTTP 1.1).

Doug: What do you think of dynamic HTML, the new extensions being
pushed by Microsoft and Netscape for version 4.0 of their browsers?
Do you think it will make a bad situation even worse?

Cari: I think dynamic HTML is great in theory, but I have little
confidence in Microsoft and Netscape's abilities to implement it in
an intelligent manner. It could very well make the situation worse,
but I don't know enough about their plans to say for sure. I think
that XML (Extensible Markup Language) which the W3C is pushing, is
very promising, but I don't have any idea what the big two browsers
plan to do with it.

Doug:  What can people do to help the campaign?

Cari: The best way people can help the campaign is to join it. If
you're a web designer and would like to join, or learn more about
the campaign, visit:

	<http://server.berkeley.edu/~cdaveb/anybrowser.html>

If you're not sure how to go about making your sites more
accessible, the page has tips and links to a lot of useful
information that should help. If you need more information than is
provided there, feel free to email me at cdaveb@server.berkeley.edu.
I get a ton of mail, so I can be slow to respond, but I can
certainly try to help. I maintain a list of sites participating in
the campaign, so definitely let me know if you'd like to join.

If you don't feel comfortable joining the campaign, but you'd like
to contribute, I encourage people to send in good graphics or
slogans that can be used for participating in the campaign, I love
to receive suggestions of related sites that I should link to, and
if you're fluent in a language that there's no translation of the
page to yet, you may want to volunteer to do a translation of the
page to that language.

For those of you who don't have web sites of your own but would like
to see more sites that are viewable by any browser, a good way to
help out is to mail designers of sites that you visit that are
browser specific, and make a suggestion that they make their sites
useable by everyone. Some site designers will ignore such
suggestions, but often times they either don't know they are locking
people out, or they didn't realize anyone would care. Many times
I've heard people say that if they had more people complaining about
accessibility, they'd make the effort to be accessible, but that
they just didn't think people cared. For instance, during the '96
campaign, I visited the Clinton/Gore campaign site and noticed that
there was absolutely no alternative text used on the site- it was
totally unreadable in lynx. I mailed them about it, and never
received a response, but within a few days, alternative text was
added to the site. So sometimes it can make a difference to register
your comments with the site designer.

5=> Product: Electronic Arts Sports Edition Gamepad Pro
Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com
Requirements: 486, 2xCDROM
MSRP: $34.95

Advanced Gravis is probably best known for its cheap, reliable
gamepads for PC computers. I've owned one for years, a gift from my
sister-in-law and her husband, and the poor thing has seen a lot of
use (and abuse). Despite all the mistreatment, the little sucker
continues to work like a charm. I was very eager, therefore, to
receive Gravis's new Gamepad Pro for evaluation. Gravis teamed up
with Electronic Arts to release new versions of its GrIP multi-
player controller and Gamepad Pro bundled with the latest Electronic
Arts sports games. I've already covered the GrIP system, which is
sensational for multiplayer games at the same computer. But I was
really looking forward to the Gamepad Pro, since I usually play
computer games by myself and I have had such a great experience with
the old gamepad. Sadly, the best I can report here is mixed feelings
about this new gamepad.

There was only one major problem encountered with installing the
Gamepad Pro - no installation disks were included in the box!
Luckily, the Gamepad Pro uses the same installation files as the
GrIP, so I just reused my install disks for the GrIP (ver 2.1 that I
downloaded from the Net). Like the GrIP, the Gamepad Pro is designed
for Windows 95 although it can function in DOS and other operating
systems. The Gamepad Pro is automatically configured when the
computer is booted, which seems to work flawlessly. Further, the
Gamepad Pro does come with a "Y" connection allowing you to connect
another gamepad and play against a friend at the same computer. The
Gamepad Pro itself feels lightweight but sturdy, with its grip
designed so that all ten buttons are in easy reach of both hands. So
far, so good.

My chief gripe with the Gamepad Pro is the use of the GrIP drivers.
Gravis, in its infinite wisdom, made the drivers a TSR program that
can be called up from the taskbar to make adjustments in button
assignments or whatever. The problem is that there is no way to shut
the sucker off! This is not a problem if you have the latest system
with tons of RAM, but some of us can't afford to make such a leap
yet. The TSR doesn't seem to be a major inconvenience, but I have so
many TSR's hanging around on my taskbar now that it looks like a
Christmas tree! There really has to be a better way to do this, I
would think.

Now that it was installed and running I was eager to see how it
worked in some of my favorite games like Quake and Descent II. First
snafu - if you load either of these games from DOS, be sure and turn
the Gamepad Pro over and move the switch from GrIP to 1 player. If
you don't do this - and do it AFTER you go to DOS, the game won't
recognize the 'pad. If you play Quake or Descent II from a DOS box,
you'll be in for an even bigger shock. You can't just click on the
icon for the game and have at it - you have to open the DOS box,
then move the switch on the back of the 'pad, and THEN you can start
your game. If you forget one of these first two steps the 'pad will
be impossible to configure and will likely act as if you are
constantly pressing one of the buttons - at least, that is what it
did for me. A little tough to play Quake if you're constantly
firing! Of course, there is a workaround, and that is to configure
the Gamepad Pro as a standard four-button gamepad. You lose some
functionality, but you don't have the GrIP TSR or the headache of
trying to remember to switch the modes each time you move from one
game to the next.

Another small problem that I had with playing with the 'pad was that
when walking for long periods in games like Quake or Descent II
forward motion would not cease immediately once I took my fingers
off the pad. This never happened with the old 'pad - it is almost if
the new pad is sticking or something. Perhaps I just need to wear it
in - but it is something to be aware of. You don't want to walk
around a corner when you meant to stop beforehand!

Beyond those problems the Gamepad Pro does seem to have the same
sturdiness as its predecessor. I love the angled grip and the way it
fits into my hands - very easy to hold, yet it feels solid in my
hands and I can easily reach all of the buttons. Further, my hands
don't feel cramped or tired even after hours of playing with the
Gamepad Pro - a definite plus in my book. The GrIP software does
have it's pluses - for example the GrIP key program. The Gamepad Pro
comes with ten buttons, all fully capable of being remapped to
whatever functions you want. Once loaded, the GrIP key program can
be used to set the Gamepad Pro for any game you want - it even comes
with configurations for some games preloaded. The preset
configurations include Quake - which seems a bit surprising since
Quake is played from a DOS box, and as I already mentioned, if you
leave the 'pad in GrIP mode it doesn't work in Quake. And you have
to leave it in GrIP mode if you want those ten buttons! (Can you say
Catch-22?)

The Electronic Arts edition of the Gamepad Pro comes with a "Special
Edition" of John Madden Football. There is no explanation in the
manuals or anywhere else describing how the "Special Edition" is
different from the "Regular Edition", so I'll have to take their
word for it. John Madden Football is a fun game, focusing more on
the action in football than any long-term strategy, but it still is
a lot of fun to play. And of course it comes fully equipped to use
the GrIP system (not too many games do yet), which means that you
can use all ten buttons!

Gravis also includes an additional CD that has several goodies on
it. Several demos of games are on the CD, including Hellbender and
Heretic, two games that make good use of gamepads. In addition, a
much larger version of the manual for the Gamepad Pro is stored on
the CD in Adobe Acrobat format. This makes a handy reference when
you need more detail than is provided in the printed manual.

Like I said, all in all I have mixed feelings about the Gamepad Pro.
I love the grip and the easy access to the buttons, but I'm not
crazy about having to constantly remember to shift buttons back and
forth between single player and GrIP every time I want to play a
game. The additional software is fun to play with and does highlight
the strengths of the GrIP system when it is fully supported and
running under Windows 95. When that becomes a reality, the GamePad
Pro running the GrIP system will be a definite plus compared to the
standard gamepads. But for now, I'm going to uninstall the GrIP
drivers and run it as a standard 'pad. Final analysis: worthy of
consideration if you want or need a new gamepad, but I wouldn't rush
to install that GrIP system too fast.

Advanced Gravis
101-3750 North Fraser Way
Burnaby, BC, Canada V5J5E9
604-431-5020
<http://www.gravis.com>

Installation/Ease of Use: Silver Medal
User-Friendliness: Silver Medal
Quality: Silver Medal
Audience: All

8=> Clickables!

None this issue.

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Managing Editor: Patrick Grote -- mailto:pgrote@i1.net
Assistant Editor: Writer Liaison: Doug Reed--
mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com
Archives: ftp://ftp.uu.net/published/compunotes/
Website: <http://www.compunotes.com/main.html>
e-mail: mailto:notes@inlink.com
fax: (314) 909-1662
voice: (314) 909-1662
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CompuNotes is: Available weekly via e-mail and on-line. We cover the
PC computing world with comprehensive reviews, news, hot web sites,
great columns and interviews. We also give away one software package
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CompuNotes
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(C)1997 Patrick Grote
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END OF ISSUE


