Javascript really is a bad idea as Chris stated, and so is flash. Both can be opening connections to anywhere without your knowledge. They are not secure, period. Many sites will not work properly with browsers like links even though they have javascript support. The adobe situation is far worse. It is becoming an entirely different platform on its own. Its almost like windows, in fact it is competition to windows, it's a challenge to own desktop. Look what google does, it can convert pdf to html but NOT text, its graphical. Its a total mess. It's huge software and is buggy. I could go on and on about these three evil bits of software. But fundamentally they all assume I am on a PC, also on windows, and desktop windows. This is not my idea of information being free. The future does not lie in PCs. It will be portable devices. None of them handle these types of "pages" properly. Web sites should be standardized in such a way that they are not form fit for PCs. There are some that support mini version pages like WAP format but that's pretty lame. The information should be just information, and the protocols should be standard and generic such that ANY device or process can read them and re-format them any way necessary. This will never happen with javascript, flash, or pdf. All of the above are really used because of the silly need to make the web more like TV than information, with all kinds of dizzying adverts, and the use of them is usually ONLY to make the site look pretty. Wrong reasons to diverge from the original idea, that there should be a set of standards that are globally accessible. I believe in accessibility beyond just for what most people think, it should allow not only different devices or browsers, it shoul allow different modalities. The CONTROLS in particular should not assume that there is keyboard and mouse. Some very serious work needs to be done in accessibility standards, and it's not headed in the right direction. -- Doug
