PROBLEMS READING WEBSITES
The Internet is presently in an open source environment where there
are published standards but no means of enforcement. Many tools that are used to create web
pages do not adhere to a standard in terms of basic html, and web pages have
become much more than static pages with browsers requiring many embedded
programs and constant updating to maintain compatibility with the complex
array of content delivered through a browser. It ranges from plain text to all manner of multimedia in many
different forms.
Software programs that
create web pages do not adhere to standards, but no matter what is used to
create pages there always exists the possibility of problems: There are many browsers, many versions of
those browsers and it is very common for users to consume the same website
with no problems again and again. The
user upgrades the browser and something in the new version makes it incompatible
with that same site. This is very common since browsers go through major
"upgrades" regularly. There is much complexity of content that is
served up on the Internet and very complex software used to make this
uniformly accessible to all users.
Therefore, standardization is presently not possible. One procedure that has been found to
counteract the browser problem is for the user to actively designate which
browser to use. Microsoft Internet
Explorer and other browsers may be actively set as a default browser by using
the right mouse Clicker, which displays browser choices. Also it is possible to select which
browser one wants by pointing to a folder or file and choose the "Open
With" selection.
Technology is always on the march, and the quest to digitize data
aught to include the preservation of access. Thus we are still at the point
as of 2021 where hard copies (e.g., books, paper documents, etc.) are still a
more secure means for retaining information for posterity. High quality CD and DVD disks also are a
good place to store information for 20 years or more.
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