[Wikipedia-l] PNG format???

[Ralphem at aol.com]

Eric,
There is a basic problem with your logo, logo contest, and use of art in 
general -- a good number of us out here cannot see them! ALL of the art on your 
pages discusssing the logo contest come up with a red X in place of the art. You 
discuss the fact that you want all logo designs in PNG format, but this is a 
format that not all systems (Mac) and not all browsers (AOL 5.0, the only 
software available for older Power PC Macs) support -- so you are cutting out a 
sizeable portion of potential viewership. I'm a graphic designer, but I've never 
used, nor have I had to use, PNG format for any image. TIF, JPEG, GIF and EPS 
are the standards for graphics, and JPEG AND GIF are the standards for use on 
the web when people with non-graphic software or systems need to view them. 
One of the guiding principles in the development of the web has been to honor 
the common person, probably one using an older computer with unsophisticated 
software, and not freeze them out by demanding they constantly download the 
latest "fireworks" or whatever in order to just view a common page. Backward 
compatibility is an important concept, and is worth keeping whenever possible. Most 
of us are still using dialup 56K modems out in the world -- web entities that 
load up their pages with sophisticated cutting-edge animations and hi-res 
long-loading photos and art are virtually assured of loosing me and millions of 
others as potential viewers. Same thing applies with your art -- coding your 
artwork in PNG format closes out a lot of potential viewers -- put them JPEG and 
your viewership and useability will increase. Take a look a Amazon.com or any 
other highly successful web business -- their pages open just as pretty in my 
Mac as they do in the latest Pentium blazer, and they don't use advanced 
formats. Let's keep it low tech -- PNG is an unnecessary complication for the 
project. Thanks for listening.
Ralph McGeehan
ralphem at aol.com