Just a reply to James unrelated to Gary's request...

James wrote:
> ...  And why force people to go though
> a javascript menu generator when a simple xhtml one suffices?  Many,
> many business users have javascript from unapproved webs sites
> blocked.  Why provide a user facing system that requires a risky
> technology be enabled for it to work?  What happened to the idea of
> graceful degradation? ...

Forget "graceful degradation" and consider Progressive Enhancement.
The goal is the same but the approach is from the opposite direction.
This should be taught in any web design course IMHO.

Graceful degradation starts with a site that has certain features that
works in a few targeted browsers and then tries to code for failure to
fall-back to some basic working condition. The trouble is, with so
many browsers (and versions) to support and with so many devices, it's
impractical, I daresay impossible, to code for all possible failures.

OTOH, Progressive Enhancement starts with a minimal document with no
styling or scripting at all. The first attempt works in every browser
from IE3, NN4, every cell phone in the world, and even Lynx. It also
works with non-traditional web browsers like screen readers for the
blind. If you're using forms, you put all validation on the server -
FIRST. Next, one adds styling while keeping in mind that users can
change font sizes, screen colors, etc. So if they don't like your
styling, they may change it. Worse case scenario, they turn it off.
But that's OK, because you designed your page to work with no styling.
Finally, you add behavior. No inline JavaScript please. If a browser
supports scripting, your JS should dynamically test for the
capabilities of the particular browser and enable just those behaviors
on the fly. Want to add client-side form validation? Great. But you
still have to check at the server because scripting can be turned off.
But if they do, ,that's OK because you still have server validation in
place.

For anyone who creates dynamic (X)HTML with ASP, ASP.Net, Perl, PHP,
or JSP - this is the ONLY way to do it. Why garble up your code with
in-line styles and scripting? What a pain in the ASCII!!!

For more information on Progressive Enhancement:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_enhancement
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/understandingprogressiveenhancement/
http://www.hesketh.com/publications/articles/progressive-enhancement-paving-the-way-for/
http://icant.co.uk/articles/pragmatic-progressive-enhancement/
http://www.filamentgroup.com/lab/progressive_enhancement_convert_select_box_to_accessible_jquery_ui_slider/
or
http://tinyurl.com/5n9gyg to see a jQuery Prog Enh example.

Mark W.

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