Re: Why Mosaic (SMTP Id#: 50843) -Reply

C.J.Osborne (C.J.Osborne@sheffield.ac.uk)
Tue, 4 Apr 1995 04:42:55 +0500


> <I saw one of my "netscape-enhanced" www-pages on a
> <Mosaic-browser today and
> <got horrified! It didn't show my work as it was intended.
>
> <My question is: Why does people use Mosaic when
> <Netscape is better and
> <can be obtained free all over the net?
>
> Netscape is not free for all users. Netscape is free for
> personal users and non-profit organizations. Companies and
> government agencies that provide Web access to their users
> must use a free browser, such as NCSA Mosaic, or pay for
> Netscape or an enhanced Mosaic.
>
> <Do you think that I should limit my layout so that
> <mosaic-users can enjoy
> <my pages as well? This would be a major setback for me
> <because I really
> <enjoy the new features in recent versions of HTML.
>
> You should do one of 2 things:
>
> 1. Stop using the proprietary Netscape tags and stick to
> standard HTML code so that the users of your information all
> see it presented as intended.
>
> 2. You can continue using the Netscape tags, but you
> should inform your users that your document has been
> enhanced using these tags and is best viewed in Netscape.
> This is a common signt on the Web.
>
>
> Matt
>
One thing Netscape information providors can do is to make the
transparent background colour of their gifs light grey (ie RGB value
of 195,195,195). I know this makes it a little more difficult to make
sure the gif is actually transparent, but as most other browser use
this as a back ground colour, you will greatly increse the chances of
you transparent gifs still looking good in other browsers (and I
don't just mean Mosaic.

Chris.
_________________________________________________________

Christopher J. Osborne

Research Associate (DERWeb)
Department of Information Studies
University of Sheffield

Tel: 0114 282 5093
Fax: 0114 278 0300
Email: c.j.osborne@sheffield.ac.uk
WWW: http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/der/cjocv.html