AKA "Why is this website so ugly in Netscape 4?"

This website uses CSS2 stylesheet technology and some clever work with the intersection of graphical browsers and non-graphical browsers. It is designed to work across a maximum of browsers with a minimum of effort needed for both design (which I'm not good enough at to spend a lot of time at) and maintenance as time and technology marches on.

It is also designed for a small footprint and in this, the design stuns even me. Not counting material you will download only once (but which does take about 5 seconds on a standard modem connection), a normal page on this website needs only 2-3K for the surrounding material, with the rest being pure content. By modern web standards, that's a miracle, pure and simple.

I am pleased with this design. In modern browsers, such as IE 5 or the later Mozillas, I believe my site is pleasing to look at (not necessarily "attractive", which isn't the same thing) and easy to use. The design is simple, and effective.

In text-only browsers such as AvantGo for the Palm Pilot or Lynx, this site is an easy-to-read oasis in a desert of text-hostile sites. If you use those platforms, you know how rare that is. (See tech note below to see how I accomplished this).

There was one casuality, though, but unfortunately it's a biggie: Netscape 4.

I haven't got anything against Netscape 4, per se... for some situations, including two of the three computers I have in my personal possession, it's either the best or one of the best solutions to the "graphical browser" problem. The downside is, it's absolute hell to design for. What few features above HTML 2.0 it supports, it supports exceptionally poorly (DHTML, CSS, to some extent Tables, even the DOM is sub-par). What little support it does have is non-standard and not the way of the future (or even really the present). The only reason Netscape 4 is a viable browser is because every website knows it has to cater for it.

But that catering takes time, time is money, and I don't really have a lot of either. Also, I am no longer a "web professional". I simply don't have time to fix a problem that in a matter of months will go away by itself as more people get better browsers.

Besides, I "eat my own dogfood"... I use my site in Netscape 4, and you know what? There's nothing wrong with it. It's content, nothing but content. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?

So, I hope you enjoy this website, I hope you find it useful, but it's not going to look any better in Netscape 4, ever. I hope you can understand that.

(Yes, I've received complaints.)

The way I made this site look so good is to use <BR> and <P> tags for spacing. Use CSS2 font-size to make it smaller if you like, or larger. Graphical browsers will have a small space. Text browsers will get a nice seperation. Best of both worlds.