Archive for July, 2006
Everyone who knows CSS take a step forward…
Not so fast, Rich Paul!
Ok, now that this whole Web 2.0 hogwash is starting to get venture capital funding, everyone is talking about semantics and css layout as the way forward for social networks and magical user-centric webservices. Well these things, like the technologies underlying the so-called web 2.0 movement, have been around for a long time. They have only just recently reached critical mass and the mainstream eye. Now I, however, was immune to the siren song since I had taken a different route and plunged into the heady world of Flash development.
So, here I am, having taken a different job, jumping head-first into the current state of standards-compliant web design. And I tell you, I believe in it. It makes sense to separate content from presentation. It makes sense to make sites easier to update and accessible to those with difficulties. But why does it have to be so damn buggy? I mean come on. It’s 2006! I would think that by now there are quite a few people in the online world that know what they would like to be able to use when putting together a site. Well, here’s my list:
- Rounded Corners. Why can’t we specify them in the code?
- Easy n-column layouts. Sure we can hack them together, but it shouldn’t be this hard to put together such fundamental site organizations.
- Alpha transparency.
- Downloadable fonts. Why can’t my text appear how I design it to look?
- Gradients. Why can’t I specify them with code?
- Rotation. Why can’t I rotate elements on a page?
- Vector graphics. Would help with the rounded corners and a whole lot more.
Now, I know the web is about content, but after all these years, why can’t we have the tools to make it easy to produce content the way we want?
P.S. This rant sprang up after the 12th time I had to edit my CSS because of another crippling IE bug which caused me to completely re-configure my somewhat complex 2 column layout so it would work again.
I’d like an a-la-carte channel selection, please.
Posted by admin in Technology on July 3, 2006
Only one time in my life, have I ever been given free cable. It wasn’t asked for. It wasn’t an underhanded deal. The installer just happened to not put any trap on the line and hey, free cable for a few months! It was pretty cool and I got to know a few channels very well. Well, after a few years, and jobs, life moved on and we never had money for cable…until recently. Since the gigantic phone and cable companies are starting to battle on the content field, prices are starting to come down. So, I stuck a toe in the water and perused the local bundles for all the many offerings and you know what they were all offering? If you act now! You’ll get not 100, but 200 channels you will never watch with programming you never really cared-for! And don’t forget the 40 premium movie channels that all play the same movies, just at different times of the day! Plus, we’ve got the most HD channels of anybody, but you don’t really care, because your tv is from the stone age, but you’ll upgrade for this! We mean it! Buy now!
And that’s ok. The packages they’re offering might be just what some people are looking for. But, I’d like to think there’s a better way. How about I sign up for your service, and I get to pick the channels I’d like to watch? At the high-end, I’d probably have 20 or so and maybe one premium movie channel. I will never watch 250 channels. That will never get me to sign up for cable or television as it’s being offered by the phone companies right now. I’d just like to watch what I want. And if they could throw in a little DVR action to sweeten the deal, I’d go for it.
In this day and age, I don’t think this is an unreasonable request.