Wither TeX? (was Re:Last typewriter factory in the world shuts its doors)

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| To: tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org

| The "feature" was a philosophy that the user had no right to suggest -- let
| alone have the ability to alter -- the presentation. Given the rise of the
| Internet and its associated shifting control to the consumer, Knuth's
| feature is in increasing disrepute,

This is a war.  The original HTML carefully left presentation to the
browser.  Most subsequent changes were to allow the creator to claw
back control.

Example: most restaurant sites in Toronto seem to be Flash, apparently
to give total control to the creator.  Result: I cannot see them on my
desktop (I don't do flash) or on my Android 2.2 smartphone, or on my
iPad.  What a Pyrrhic victory for the restaurants.

Example: a lot of stuff is in PDF.  I cannot conveniently read it in
my Kobo ereader (not enough resolution).

Example: how many things are JPEGs that could be text, allowing for
searching and cutting and pasting.

Example: how many sites fail accessability.

Example: how many sites fail on netbooks that have limited resolution.

Example: how many sites fail on my TV (10 feet away).

There is room for TeX and PDF, but the producers need to be aware of the 
consequences of their choices.
--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://gtalug.org/wiki/Mailing_lists