Jed, Il giorno 12/nov/2011 02:26, "Jed Rothwell" <jedrothw...@gmail.com> ha scritto:
> Michele Comitini <michele.comit...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Digging in to the html code, the headers tell it all about quality... >> made with FrontPage software that was discontinued in 2003! >> > > I do not see why that matters. > > For LENR-CANR.org I use Borland Delphi 4, discontinued in 1999. I > sometimes tweak the HTML *by hand*. With Programmers Text Editor. For > shame! > > You got a problem with retro-looking HTML? You got a problem with old > programs, and old programmers? > > I was going to complain that these screens look too modern. Too busy. I > like Google's main page. > > > Here you are making wrong guesses on my ideas about: 1. Software development tools. 2. Quality on the Web. The following is a reply to the above erroneous assumptions on your side. 1. Software development tools I have nothing against old programmers (I am one of those by now) or old (good) programs. As a matter of fact if i often have to select programmers for projects I am directly involved in. I always ask what kind of tools they use. One key point is that they understand the difference between an IDE and a text editor, between handmade code and automated code generation. I am deeply skeptic about automatic code generation with the aid of a graphical tools, myself being a die hard command line guy. I often say that using a GUI vs CLI is like cavemen paintings vs the greatest invention of mankind ever: writing. Of course it is an exaggeration, but if you look at the question in term of expressiveness, exactness and reproducibility nothing can beat writing. The death of things like UML (Unified Modeling Language) tell a lot about that. Dealing with real problems using many programming languages creates oftentimes repeated patterns. You have three practical approaches that do not require repeating the typing : 1. Use a GUI that generates the "boiler plate" code for you. 2. Have a tool to automatically generate the code. 3. Choose a language that comes with the pattern solved. Me being a lazy kind of person that likes typing short, expressive and clean code, I naturally prefer option 3. But the others can do equally good with patterns. A pattern in programming resembles the notion of a concept. Think to the concept of "aeroplane/airplane" we can do with analogy to the above: 1. A drawing or a picture: http://carseatblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/airplane.jpg 2. Have a *code* *preprocessor* writing "A powered fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust> from a jet engine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_engine> or propeller <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propeller_%28aircraft%29>...*"* where needed. 3. Write the instruction "airplane". Suppose that those tool developed by businesses that all ended just before the advent of the 20th century and now is 1910. Since at the time they where written there was some confusion about airplanes , the definitions are slightly outdated (wrong for 1910( and you generate code without knowing it. Well in your code the airplane will always *crash*! This is what happens with FrontPage. Just to be clear Frontpage falls under type 1 Your situation is *completely* different. You do not use any automated code generation. You have to write by *hand* "A powered fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust>from a jet engine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_engine> or propeller<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propeller_%28aircraft%29>... *"* every where you need to express an airplane. That is what you do with delphi and it is perfectly fair. If you keep yourself updated your code at the time of writing is *correct*. You are not automating anything and *you could use any other text editor* to get the same result. Just to give you an idea of how much I am against "old" stuff look at what I use to do my daily work: - Unix or Linux - Emacs - LaTex Take a look around to find how young are those toys (the youngest is Linux: 20 years old, but not is good old cousin Unix). But there is a main difference with FrontPage: "*they are and they will** constantly updated and improved*". I am not going to explain why and how because this is getting too long already, I just state that it is all related to the fact that it is *free software* i.e. driven by the user (person or business) need and not by sale needs. Dead proprietary development software is good if you are the only one that is going to use the resulting program. On the contrary on the Internet it is good policy to adhere to standards, because anyone could come to visit you. Think of someone speaking Shakespeare English on a international business confcall, they other mute him off. Also keep an eye on possible malicious attacks must be kept. That is why keeping the code up to date is important. 2. Quality on the Web *"De gustibus non disputandum"* I would like you to explain how "too busy [with text]" equals "too modern [web site]". Contemporary web site style guidelines and standard bodies put a lot of effort in defining how the content must reach the largest audience. This includes the visual impaired and those who have problems using standard input devices such as mouse and keyboards. There are well know marketing rules for creating good web sites. I understand that "there is no such thing as bad publicity", but making a sloppy website is worse than having no website at all. It scares serious customers off. I can quantify the quality of a web page by some metrics, since that is part of my job, but the standard user just gets a feeling, and giving a bad feelings as a result of a poorly implemented web page is never good if you want to have some market value. You say "I like Google's main page." I do too, but whatever you believe, it is very modern, look at the code you will have a few surprises. "Show me how you code, and I'll tell who you are". Google works really hard every to keep a minimalist look which supports as many devices as possible while following the most updated guidelines on usability and performance. A. Final note There is a big difference between your efforts on http://www.lenr-canr.organd the e-cat site. The first is a service to the community, the other is for selling goods. mic
