Why are there so many graphics and icons on the Computer Online pages?
THIS is a frequently asked question in the e-mail responses to the site. It goes to the heart of our philosophy behind Computers Online. The reason for the heavily graphical look is that we are not interested in merely pumping text onto an online database. Computers Online is essentially an experiment to test what can be achieved on the Web publishing platform. The future for online services lies in graphical user interfaces and multimedia, and we want to push the boundaries. That’s why to appreciate Computers Online, you must have a 28.8 modem and the latest Netscape browser software. This does not please everyone – the Internet has been around a lot longer than the Web (which was created in 1989 and implemented widely as late as 1993), so there is a strong text-only culture on the network. We will, in time, provide more facilities for text-only browsing, but we will continue with heavy use of graphics. The English newspaper The Guardian recently criticised us for our extensive use of
