[geeks] A little self-indulgence

[Kenneth Dunn]

On Sat, 9 Mar 2002, Jonathan C. Patschke wrote:


> in C on an Indy back at JJT in 1996.  About the only big-name company that
> didn't have a clue[1] about web design back then was Sun (remember the one
> big GIF homepages?).  I still do all my web-coding in a -text- editor, and
> still code against HTML 3.2 because 4.0 sucks planets through soda straws.

I started off using the text editor "joe" and doing HTML with that
many years ago. Now I use Dreamweaver, only entering code view when
I have to (which is often). I've only toyed with CGI to see how it works. 
Javascript and Java I haven't found a need for.
 
> I -=hate=- what the web has become.  You can't browse a decent percentage
> of "mainstream" sites without Microsloth Internet Exploder v9382.2 and
> Crapromedia FooBar v89 and Java$hit 4.2 and who knows what the hell else.
> Oh, and you need to resize your screen--no, wait, we can do that -for- you
> with ActiveX and DirectCrash and ... and ... and ...

I agree with you 100%. I've come across a few sites that only allow
Exploder and Nutscrape when Javascript is enabled (I prefer Opera).

What really pisses me off is idiot web masters that insist on putting
Javascript and graphic labels without alt tags everywhere just to 
"navigate" around the web site. I feel for those that are blind.

Frames! Now they piss me off big time. I know they can be real handy
when not being abused, which is not all that often. 

> And I'll be damned if you can even get in the front door without a
> thousand cookies shoved up your browser's arse, or download a measly file
> without a META-redirect page.  But, of course, that's becase everything on
> the web is an -application-, rather than a set of docs.

Well I'm working at a company that sells Tarantella. If you don't know
what that is it, it web enables applications. So far I've only been
able to get it to work 99% reliably with MS IE. It works well with
Windows, but fuck me if I can get it working as well with the browsers for 
Linux. 

Skipping the market droid bullshit, it is a fair product which is getting
better all the time. It is prehaps the only use of web based Java that
is justifible in my mind. 

> I could rant all day, and I just scored the perfect domain name in which
> to do it:
> 
>      webbastard.net

"K-rad" dude, I like it.