Metaphorical Interfaces.

If there were no metaphores on your operating systems, would we just go back to the days of doss? Isn't any image based "desk top" a metaphore in some way?

Rob.

Nielsen Sucks

If you are doing style for your project be prepared to see a lot of Jacob Nielsen's name being thrown around. If you want to argue with him be prepared to spend some time looking for people who are willing to do the same. It seems like he has brainwashed everyone into thinking that his way is the best way and if you don't use it you are "stupid, evil, and lazy." F*** him and his style guide if that's the way he wants to be. I'm not either of those things (except maybe a little of the last, but so aren't we all at some time). I now feel it's my personal mission to persuade my audience, no matter how small or varied, that his style is not the only one out there.

Now I feel the need to rant about spam on my blog. Until a couple weeks ago I was doing fine with keeping spam off my blog, but after I left for just a little while it's back. They're like cockroaches, as soon as you kill one another one takes its place. Literally seconds after I posted my last blog a reply was posted, before I even got to view my own blog. I may be forced to use the word recognition thing but I want to keep that as a last resort.

IP

I've returned to my blog briefly after a long absence. I'd like to talk about copyright and open source. The two seem to be an oxymoron. Anything a person writes is automatically copyrighted, so when they write something into an open form that is also copywrited. It's up to the individual to do what they want to with what they write, as long as they don't violate the terms of free use. But, I don't think the average user knows that their work is automatically copywritten, or that they have to register it to keep it safe. If they write an influential peice of software with open source programs, could that be taken and used commerically (violating the rules of "copyleft") if the writer isn't aware? Patents change hands like this everywhere, what about unregistered copyrights on open sourse?

Rob.

Abstract: Style II

"The main focus I would like to look at is whether there is, as Jacob Nielson points out, one right way to build a web page." After some consideration I've decided that this isn't the best way to phrase this point. A better way to phrase this is "Why is it that most sources on writing for a web page perscribe this kind of method?" I feel that this is because the internet is being designed around a "pop-culture" way of reading the web and as such it is being driven in one way. Is it wrong to write a site in long blocks of text that an average reader doesn't want to take the time to read? Not if the point of our site is aimed at a "fringe culture" such as academics or computer science. These are not desinged with the average user in mind, yet they are welcome to read it if they wish.

Abstract: Style

Unfortunately, when most people (myself included) look at a web site they are mainly interested in how the information is laid out, regardless of the actual content of the page. The interesting things about style, especially in connection with web pages, are the many different levels of style that can be implemented; there are styles of writing, page layout, color schemes and font types. The list can be almost inexaustible. The main focus I would like to look at is whether there is, as Jacob Nielson points out, one right way to build a web page; or if there are many equally good ways to present different types of information. It doesn't seem that one style would serve the best interests of a business site and at the same time cater to an academic site, and as with different levels of style on a page there are also an undefinable number of types of web page, all serving a different purpose.

Some of the questions I would like to answer are:

What are the most important elements of style on a web page?
Is there a better style for different types of web pages?
Even if two web pages are doing the same thing, should the style be geared toward a specific audience, or would this alienate a general public?
At what point does style dictate content? or content dictate style?
Are the two really inseperable?

I'm interested in hearing comments on this idea, so feel free.

Rob.

Accessability and the impaired.

I, as most of us probably do, know quite a few people who are physically impaired in some way. I never gave it much thought, but without web accessability these people are missing out on the information super-highway. I know that the amount that each of these people use the internet varies from not at all, to quite a bit. The interesting thing is, I was talking with a blind guy about English. He said that he reads a lot of web pages and didn't understand a lot of the punctuation on these. I never really thougth before about blind people using the internet. I wonder how many web pages are out there that really support these devices.

Wiki and stuff.

I spent the last hour reading the latest blogs from the class and commenting on some, but I didn't say anything substantial, just letting you know I actually read it from time to time. It seems that everyone thinks that wiki is too maleable to be of any real use, or at least practical. In light of this, I think that I am going to change my blog account to something that supports wiki. I think the almost unlimited freedom to change or link, or add to anything would be a better way to go about this whole blog thing. I'm hoping that instead of having to post comments it would allow you to simply add on to what I've written, or create links on certain words, so that you don't have to go throught all the trouble to quote and I don't have to do too much navigating away from this page to view comments. I think that would allow it to be a lot more interactive. If anyone has any idea how I could do this, and if it works like I hope, let me know. I would be interested in giving it a try.

Aside from this, my friends have all moved to different parts of the country. We used to do a lot of writing, and general bs, with things we found amusing. Wiki seems like it would allow us to all access and change the same page however we see fit, to make our seperate arguments or comments. It also allows other interested parties, who may or may not be knowledgable in the subject, to add their comments as well. Sounds interesting, especially since all my friends sit on chat rooms for hours at a time, rotting their brains in pointless conversations. The connections could be endless and honestly, how many times have you read something and thought "They're full of shit. I wish I could rewrite this." Well, now you can.

Rob.

standards and rules

I've been thinking about standards and whether they are confining or not. I guess that depends on the standard and the person involved. Where I work we have quite a few standards: food safety, personal safety, and food presentation being the biggest three. But sometimes it seems like a standard is more like a rule, and then it gets to be a little confining. For example, a girl who works with me has a nose ring, which doesn't come out anymore, and since she cannot remove it she has to wear a large, blue, company issued bandaid over it. It looks rediculous and isn't exactly what I would want the person who is serving my food to have on their face. The point is, there is a rule that no one in the food prep or serving area can wear jewelry. There is another standart we have to abide by, concerning cookies. We have to have four kinds of regular size cookies, two kinds of large cookies, and one cookie of the week, in this order from bottom to top, in the cookie rack at all times. This to me seems almost as bad as the bandaid, if we know people only eat two kinds of cookies and ignore the rest, then we are forced to waste the rest. It, in its own way is confining. So what is the difference between a standard and a rule here?

Another thought is that standards, like codes, are created by both society in general and governing bodies. Dress codes could be considered a standard, I guess, so everyone at a company would have to dress in the same type of outfit. This is imposed by the business, but how they wear those clothes is determined by a societal standard. If they dressed in any but the common practice they would be ridiculded, so we mostly follow this same pattern. But, even though some standards could get in our way, I think it is good that we have them in place. In the justice system standards are what makes it "fair" to stand in front of a judge. He is suppossed to view your case and hold it up to a set standard for punishment, keeping his prejudice from affecting your sentance. The example of the traffic lights is a good one. This is a standard that really doesn't affect anyone, but it does make the world a lot easier to navigate. Just like the standards for web page design, I don't think they are there to choke the life out of me, but to help the world navigate the internet easier.

So, the big question is: When , or how, does a standard become a rule (or a law for that matter), and does that standard or rule really affect me? I'm sure there are more standards than I could ever know about, but I've never ran into them because they don't affect me.

I'll step off my little box now so you don't have to read any more of my rambling.

Rob.

del.icio.us

I opened my account on delicious and I think there are more benifits than people give it credit for. I've taken all my favorites off my list, and my links off my firefox browser, and consolidated them on my delicious account so I don't have to find where all my links are, they are now in a single place. The other advantage to my account is that I can email my friends and have them open a delicious account and we can share bookmarks as well. This is advantagous because we have many of the same hobbies and we use our computers to follow these. Now instead of emailing web addresses to each other we can just post them on our accounts and let the others find them. It seems much easier this way than the constant emailing of addresses, which are usually mispelled anyway. Just a thought.

Rob.

Unwanted comments.

On almost every one of my posts here it seems like someone is telling me how cool my post is and trying to direct me to some website (no doubt where they wish me to buy something). If anyone has any idea how to keep this from happening I would be very interested in finding out. I have enough commercials on my TV, I don't need them in my web log.

Rob.

Content v/s style

I've given the subject some thought lately and decied that, while content and stlye can be seperated (like in html and css), it shouldn't be. What made me really think about this is my friends business cards. He called me and said that he was having problems with people taking him seriously and thinks that it is partially his cards. They have a hand drawn logo printed on a home computer; they look bad. This made me think that we are judged on both the style and content of everything we do. In the case of the business cards, all the necessary info was there, but the way the card looked was it's downfall. In the same way, when we write for classes we are judged on both the content of the paper and the style we choose to follow(of that is chosen for us) whethet it be mla, apa, or whatever the journalism style is. These things are just as important as what we say. On the web style is just as important. If the web page looks amature or too dense we just skip in in favor of something that suits our needs. I don't think that there is one particular stlye that should be adhered to, otherwise the world would be a boring place. That's all I have to say for now.

They're taking over!

I've tried to avoid the computer revolution for a long time now, but it seems impossible. When I worked for a newspaper press we used to talk about how the internet may someday take over the newspaper industry, but we never gave it much credit because we figured that the time honored newspaper would be the last bastion of offset web and sheetfed printing. In modern day, four years later, the monster that the internet has become has a voracious appetite. It is going to consume us all and I admit that I have became an unfortunate casuality. I've finally given up writing papers with the pen and paper this semester.

The depth of this problem didn't truely dawn on me until I went to a talk on getting hired after college. Not all of it was geared toward computers, but there were certain points that proved we now live in a different age. From '94 up until '03 I was in the job market. The process was easy. You made an appointment and came with your resume to give to the person responsible for hiring you, or at least you mailed your resume in a nice envelope. Now it is recommended that you have your resume in a form that you can insert directly into the body of an email becasue employers don't want to take the time with your paper anymore. The internet has also become a usefull tool for placing a resume so employers can scan thousands of prospective applicants from the comfort of their office or even home computer. It kind of makes me feel inhuman sometimes when I think that the employer will never see or talk to me before he looks for me on the internet; more like a commodity than a person.

When asked about the future of writing, the faculty present both agreed that writing on the web will be the wave of the future. Web based writing as also apparently gotten rid of indentions for some unknown reason. It appears that the good old days of hard copy and MLA form may be falling to the wayside. What would Johannes Gutenberg say?

Memories or trash?

Someone commented on my last post, asking why I throw my old notebooks away. A better question would be, "Why should I keep them?" After all, normally when I write I am putting on paper the thoughts that are important at the moment. Like this one, which keeps popping up when people find out I don't keep my old writings. I find that this is a good forum to say my peice on why I decide to throw out my collections of random thoughts and feelings, since I can just give out the address and people can read it rather than having to tell the same old story.
For starters, paper takes up room in an otherwise cluttered closet. A couple years ago I was moving and got down to the bottom of my closet, where all the old shoe boxes of folders, notebooks and assorted peices of paper were stored. There was an entire garbage bag of paper there that could have been thrown out years ago, saving me time now. This brings up another point. I lived in that house for three years and in that time I never opened these boxes and looked at anything in them. Why? Probably because I forgot about them. They weren't really that important; probably why they ended up in the bottom of the closet anyway. Now in my closet I have another box of paper started that sets there and collects dust. I don't look in it either unless I am trying to find something else that I have misplaced. I just haven't cleaned it out yet.
While I was going through the boxes I was curious and looked at some of the things I had written. These were the collected works of my late teens and early twenty's, and they didn't apply to me anymore. They were filled with the angst of a young man who hated the world he lived in. Why would I want to keep these concrete images of my past? I remember it well enough as it is. So I threw them out, as I do now. Life is too short to be dwelling in the past. I did that for a while and missed out on the present; that's probably why I was so depressed when I wrote those things in the first place. Now I just focus on the now and I'm much happier for it. I have memories in my head, I don't need them to be written down for me, yet.

First Day.

Today I am forced to enter the domain of writing on a computer. While I don't relish the thought of putting my opinions and thoughts on public display it will save the countless notebooks I have filled and thrown away, maybe. At least it will save a few trees in the process. We'll see how this goes, it might be a short journey.