[mythtv-users] Boxee/Hulu?

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Mon Mar 2 18:39:16 UTC 2009


On Monday 02 March 2009 11:15:03 Eric Sharkey wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 11:35 AM,  <jarpublic at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Exactly what constitutes a web browser in the eyes of Hulu is not clear.
> >
> > I think it is fairly clear. It is a program that renders the html/php
> > (or whatever it is that they serve up) unaltered.
>
> There's no such thing.
>
> Web browsers always reformat the display based on any number of
> conditions.  HTML is not a publication format designed to give an
> exact layout, regardless of how many web developers might try to pound
> it into that mode.

Indeed. I do a little work for a web site. I have a terrible time explaining 
that a browser is not like a printing press, and I can't guarantee how every 
browser/computer/screen setup will display things. 

The idea is to present the information in a readable form for the user, 
whether he is using a 24" monitor and firefox or a text-based browser on a 
phone. It is the information that counts, not the way it is presented.

The usual response I get is "well the XXX site does it", causing me to curse 
the web developers who succumb to pressures to try and force the web to be 
what it is not and was never intended to be.

If my HTML code has to take into account what browser is being used to view 
it, something is terribly wrong.

So the restarictions HuLu places on their service violate the entire concept 
of the web, but I'm sure the content providers will never understand that, 
they are just too used to mediums that allow for total control of the 
presentation.

-- 
beww
beww at beww.org


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