Technical Blog – Page 45

Sour Taste In My Mouth

I had that 1 client who drove me nuts. Yet,I have to say I do like the job I did for them. I installed an interactive photo gallery which has gotten 12,777 hits to date since it went live back in May. Not too bad. The gallery contains hundreds of photos,some user submitted and hasn’t broken once since the main culprit stopped loading massive, unedited digital camera pics to mass uploader.The gallery is by Phormer

The calendar has been neglected since June,though.I’m puzzled. This was a feature that the bar owner really wanted. I slaved over finding one that was easy to use and then spent extra time customizing it to make it look pretty.Then I added custom password protection so not just any old body could add or delete an event. Made sense to me. In June they filled every day with some kind of an event.But that was it. Oh, well. Maybe it’s a summer thing.

The calendar is from Circular Genius

What’s a Blog For?

Seriously, what is a blog for? Is it a diary? Is it the digital personification of the delusion that anyone could possibly care to know what you (a complete unknown, unproven, unaccredited boob)thinks about socks,the Government,James Dean or cereal? Is it a way to make money? If so, how? Is it a new toy that you love for three months and then abandon never to update again, a lifeless husk doomed to display your final post, dated 2004, about your cat Bubbles, for all eternity?

All the time I read blogs telling me in order to have a “successful blog” I should write about one subject.I should not vary too much from that subject. My blog should have one main thrust.If it doesn’t I will confuse. I will not get return readers. I will be typing into the void.I should blog every day. I should not use foul language. I should keep track of my visitors. I should have a mailing list or some kind of tool for subscriptions.I should do a lot of things.

And every once in awhile I decide that yes,I will be consistent. I will use bulleted lists to keep the eye of nitwits who can’t concentrate long enough to read a whole paragraph. I will not type fuck or shit. Ok so this may be the 1st time I have typed fuck or shit. See how good I have been?

But unfortunately, my real life isn’t like that, so structured,so disciplined,so paranoid about what folks will think. I do not especially care that people will like me in real life.So why should I maintain such a ruse in my own damn blog? It’s my blog.I didn’t start it up to make money. I have no ads on it.I probably never will.What’s the point of having such a boot camp attitude toward something that is supposed to be fun?

If you do have a successful blog I congratulate you. I do not. What I do have is a freaking online journal.Oh crap.

Many Thanks to Open Publish

I couldn’t say it better-although I have been trying to explain why tables for layout is bad code practice-I usually just end up babbling about some technical side-issue and end up educating nobody.

The reason I go on(and on) about other designers who use invalid code
(tables for layout devotees always use invalid code! they can’t help it since invalidity is inherent in table layouts) is because I can’t get over the fact that 100% of the sites I’ve redone had tables for layout.
These are not old sites,either.Using tables for layout is still pretty much standard practice.
It’s obvious that we just have to keep saying it over and over until people stop doing it.

This is despite the fact that any Google search on Good+Web+Design
will turn up loads of advice/tutorials on how to use html and css.

So,I wonder…why the hold-out? Is it just because no one has told these people why it’s bad? Or do they think we are just making their lives harder by trying to force a new practice on them? Is it just easier to do what you have always done because it “works”? My confusion over why people still bang out these crappy pages(it’s 2007!) is the same as my confusion over why some people would throw their trash on the ground when they are just 2 feet away from a trash can!

The answer may well be all of the above or it may be that they do not know WHY they need to learn better coding-since all we meanies do is rant and turn red in the face or ridicule or whatever.So here is a site that actually explains it.Yay.

Tables to CSS

Pownced

I am Pownced. Got 6 invites. Should I save them for clients or should I give them to people who want them? My friends aren’t really interested in internet type stuff. So, if you want a Pownce invite let me know…