xCards versus HTML

[Alain Farmer]

> If we talk about public web sites the goal
> should be "absolute accessibility everywhere". 

I think we can all agree on this fundamental goal. But
making a player available freely and providing content
which is not html-ized does not contravene this
crucial principle. You cannot create xCard content
with a plain old text editor (W3C's definition of
accessibility) but no-cost versions of MC and RunRev
are available via the web which allow you to do
everything that HTML can do, with no limitations; &
script the interactivity of your content with the
10-line and 25-line scripting-limits of MC and RunRev
respectively. Much can be achieved within this
constraint given that the script of buttons rarely
exceed a few lines, for example.

Full accessibility, in my view, should also take into
consideration the ease with which the content and its
interactivity can be maintained/modified by those who
create the wares AND by those who USE them too. What
would you rather work with? With an xCard that allows
you to build your web solutions with a WYSIWYG GUI vs
a traditional approach to web solutions which requires
you to *textually* code the content, its structure and
the appearance that its *likely* to have on the client
side, plus your users cannot readily change it
themselves. Do you prefer xTalk over JavaScript?

> Unfortunately as long as somebody is going to 
> make a buck out of it, html will never evolve
> and the public will be served only half.

The HTML standard has been retired from the
development cycle. IOW, W3C has officially declared
that the HTML standard is "done". It won't evolve any
further. W3C & others are now promoting XML (and kin)
as the standards of the future. At best, HTML will
live on as xHTML, IOW as a dialect of XML that can be
handled by XML as XML.

> The excuse that the backward compatibility
> will suffer is false, people do upgrade
> when they have a reason.

Backward compatibility is important but in the
ebullient and volatile climate of rapid technological
changes that we live in these days, its not always
feasible. To avoid this merry-go-round, we must
endeavour to make our wares (and the underlying code)
as OPEN as possible. Open to third-party enhancements,
as well open to the subsequent changes that will
inevitably be made to the ware/code. This, in turn, is
mainly a question of good design and a bit of
foresight.

Backward compatibility is more viable (sustainable)
with stacks than with HTML pages. A stack is
equivalent to a complete site, yet far more flexible
than the dozens or hundreds of corresponding web
pages. A stack can/will be scripted to re-purpose the
existing content, casting the content in several
forms: HTML, XML, textfiles, database records,
reports, CGI program; individually, or any mix that
you wish. New formats can also be scripted as they
become available, relevant, popular... without fussing
with the content at all and without disrupting the
other formats either.

I agree with you that people do upgrade when they have
a good reason and a reasonable of success. It's
evolution! My conviction is that we have the
upper-hand in terms of potential, but I suppose that
we the xCard community has not made its case
persuasively enough. Not yet that is!  Ignorance of
the superiority of our xCard approach must be
countered with more communication, and hopefully my
last 3 messages to this list have contributed to this,
albeit in a very small way. You can quote my
ramblings, if you wish, in other forums. As it is, I
am preaching to the converted, eh!

For those of you who know me better, I am endeavouring
to persuade the university-based R&D center that I
work for to switch over to an xCard approach from a
PHP+SQL solution which mirrors what everyone else is
doing. No thank you; conformity sucks!, particularly
when one is being pressured to conform to something
mediocre like HTML and JavasScript. We can, and will
do, much better than this. Update : my colleagues and
my superiors are taking my proposal very very
seriously. They expect me to submit a detailed plan
along these lines, in order to fetch some top-notch
support, including some funding, to pursue this xCard
approach *aggressively*.  :-)

I can't believe how much time I have blown on this
post. I have to get back to work now. If I am boring
you all, then please tell me eh!  ;-)

Editorially yours,

Alain Farmer
Laboratoire de Communautique Appliquée
Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
farmer at ufp.uqam.ca

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