[Fedora-ambassadors-list] About Fedora Web Template

Patrick Barnes nman64 at n-man.com
Mon Mar 20 08:37:02 UTC 2006


On Sunday 19 March 2006 23:17, "Alex Maier" <lxmaier at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 3/19/06, Clair <fedora at freehold.no-ip.info> wrote:
> > On Sunday 19 March 2006 23:27, Alex Maier wrote:
> > > Puneet,
> > >
> > > These animations look great! I only have noticed one typo--on the
> > > slide before last it says "A open community" -- it should say "An open
> > > community" instead.
> >
> > Of course, the only problem being it's *flash* which is *not* free and is
> > *not* part of Fedora.
>
> Windows users are the main audience for us, not the Linux converts,
> and Flash is what Windows boxes support out of the box--not OGG.
> Preaching to the quoir might be more satisfying, but it is not very
> far-sighted in the long term.
> a
>

I won't blindly say that we should only use OGG, but I also won't stand behind 
using Flash.  There is absolutely no reason we should be using any template 
that cannot be viewed on a Fedora system.  It is entirely possible to produce 
a great site without using any Flash or OGG features.  Before anyone mentions 
it, the same is also true of GIF.  I frankly grow tired of people that build 
high-demand websites using Flash and other animation technologies, but fail 
to account for the percentage of users who do not have the ability or desire 
to use Flash or other such technologies.  It is our duty to practice what we 
preach.  We should try to use only open technologies, and should try to avoid 
excluding anyone without an established need to do so.

I've been designing, building, and maintaining websites for years, and I can 
safely say that the best websites don't use Flash animations or any sort of 
movies.  Every time you use Flash, Java, OGG, GIF, WMV, or any other 
animation or video format without a real need, you lose a sector of your 
audience.  It could be due to technological limitations, physical 
limitations, or an intentional desire to avoid these technologies.  When you 
focus on designing for aesthetics, you will usually end up losing 
accessibility and interface design features.  You'd be amazed at what you can 
accomplish without Flash or other animation technologies.

We have two reasons to avoid Flash:

1. It is a proprietary technology that is not natively supported by Fedora, 
and may also be unavailable on other systems.
2. Using Flash reduces overall accessibility of a site.  Offering alternatives 
mitigates this issue to a limited extent.

We have two reasons to avoid OGG:

1. Despite being an open format, it is not fully supported on some platforms.  
It is not supported on base installations of Microsoft Windows, which may 
represent a large segment of our target audience.
2. Using OGG reduces overall accessibility of a site.  Offering alternatives 
mitigates this issue to a limited extent.

In my opinion, we cannot justify using these technologies for websites.

For more about website accessibility:

http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/
http://www.section508.gov/

We can do just about anything using standard web technologies, including HTML, 
CSS, and even AJAX.  Anything that cannot be done or should not be done using 
standard web technologies can be done using open formats.  The OpenDocument 
formats are as easy to gain access to on Windows platforms as Microsoft Word 
formats are.  Obtaining OGG support on Windows is also very easy, but we 
shouldn't need to do too much with videos.  Any time you think you need to 
use a technology that is somehow limited, try to ask yourself if there is 
another, better way to do it.

-- 
Patrick "The N-Man" Barnes
nman64 at n-man.com

http://www.n-man.com/

Have I been helpful?  Rate my assistance!
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