Don't Forget Tenure
I should tag every sentence in this section with the following note:
When critiquing the look of online webtexts written in 1996 (or 2006 for that matter), we need to keep in mind the importance of faculty status committees as audiences for these texts. Many of Kairos' authors have been graduate students, adjuncts, and untenured faculty members, and while they may write their webtexts for colleagues in computers and writing, composition, and technical writing, these texts are also being read and evaluated by colleagues who have likely never published online work. My experience on such committees has been that my colleagues are well-meaning and want to treat people fairly; still, even though one's colleagues may recognize the peer review process Kairos uses and its high regard in the field, they usually lack the background to evaluate webtexts and making your online piece look as if it could be printed can't hurt. (However, see Tracy Bridgeford's webtext, Kairotically Speaking, in this issue for a counterargument to making your online piece look like everyone else's.)
Thus we need to recognize the fact that many early online webtexts in Kairos remediating paper articles in their visual forms may not be a bad thing, and if our more recent webtexts are getting away from this remediation, it may well speak to a significant maturation of our field.