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Annoyed by HTML arrogance

Thanks for pointing your readers to webpagesthatsuck (Web sites, 15 July). It's a little ironic that when I visited it I thought it sucked! There are two reasons why. The second applies to The Independent's Web site, too, I'm afraid.

First, I know what size text I like to read. I hate Web sites that think they know better. I'd nominate any site that uses the font size tag for body text. The whole original purpose of HTML was to allow client-side formatting. I wish they would leave my text formatting options alone! Second, I can resize my window. I hate Web sites that use fixed-width tables to force body text into narrow columns. I prefer to read large- format text. When it is squeezed into a narrow column it looks stupid. I wish they would let me choose my window width. Webpagesthatsuck annoys me for both those reasons. Otherwise it's pretty cool. But ignoring the whole philosophy of HTML isn't a very cool way to go about teaching good Web design.

Ian Eiloart

iane@cogs.susx.ac.uk

When a bus-stop gets lost in translation

After reading "When software hasn't done its homework" (Network+, 15 July) I waited most confidently at one of Berlin's many Strassenbahnhaltestellen (Network+ translation: bus-stop). Imagine my amazement when the "bus" arrived running on rails, powered by overhead lines and bearing an uncanny resemblance to a tram. Tomorrow I am going to try out a Bushaltestelle - who knows what will come this time?

Alistair K Birch

birch@birch.de

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