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The Art of Compromise
by Gabe Bokor
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Most of life's endeavors consist of a series of compromises, and editing an on-line journal is no exception. The editor/webmaster must balance volume versus quality, which means rejecting, with regrets, some of the contributions offered by readers. He must also balance the sophistication of graphics against time of loading especially since many readers are still using slow modems and/or have slow and expensive Internet connections. Compatibility with older browsers is another factor limiting our design options. These same considerations have led us to the decision not to use multimedia as suggested by at least one reader. We have kept, however, the "Quizlet" with its linguistic trivia questions despite the fact that it slows down the loading of the page considerably and requires versions 4.0 or higher of Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Did we make the right decisions in all these cases? We have no way of knowing unless you tell us. Do you enjoy the Quizlet to the point that you're willing to put up with a slower-loading page? Would you object to longer articles or would you prefer that they be broken up and published in installments? It is the nature of the Web that a page appears differently to people using different hardware, software, and personal settings. While we test each page with the major browsers for both PCs and the Macintosh, the number of versions currently in use and the number of possible combinations of computers, monitors, browsers, platforms, operating systems, and settings makes it impossible to make sure that a Web page appears properly to all readers. In one extreme case, a reader recently complained that a Journal page appeared totally blank on his screen. It turned out to be a coding error, which was "forgiven" by the browsers I use and apparently by the browsers of most, but not all, other readers. In another case, a complaint about the Journal using excessively small type was solved by advising the reader to change his screen resolution to a lower setting. The change solved that reader's problem not only with the Journal, but also with other Web pages he had had difficulty in reading. Please tell us if you notice anything that interferes with your enjoyment of the Translation Journal: slow loading, too large/too small type, insufficient contrast with the background, erratic typeface changes, overlapping text blocks, etc. Don't wait. Send us an e-mail with your findings and suggestions concerning the form and content of the Translation Journal right now: Thank You! |
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