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Sometime ago, say, 1999, Slashdot was the king of the online tech world. In fact, from a "hits" standpoint, they may still be, if not second to Digg. Slashdot has always been the first big blog-style tech site, long before the word "blog" meant anything to anyone, and somehow, Rob Malda and crew are still relevant in the scene.
Not too long ago, Slashdot started overhauling their incredibly horrendous HTML and rewriting in mostly compliant HTML. The goal of the rewrite, amongst many other things, such as incredible bandwidth savings, was to support stylesheets and graceful degrade. When all was ready, Slashdot held a contest to solicit new stylesheets and received tons of submissions, some really cool and others really ugly, and chose a very nice, very reserved, very modern-but-conservative one as their new default style.
Let's back up a bit: Slashdot is written in Perl - ack! - and is built upon an open source system called, simply enough, "Slash." Slash code is horrendously out-of-date and the last download is pathetically old. In fact, the only way to get Slash in any recent form is via CVS access. Slash requires mod_perl and tons of Apache and perl customization. Since Slash is tried-and-true, it's not really "new" code. And it shows in many ways.
Not too long ago, the Slash folks started realizing that new technologies and new sites were introducing amazing interactive features. Perhaps they realized when a chunk of their userbase got fed up and left for sites like Digg, Techcrunch, Mixx, or some other aggregation type site. Nonetheless, the Slash team started hacking in features that emulated many of the Web 2.0 sites. First it was tagging. "Taggging" has been in beta for some time now. It allows users to arbitrarily tag a story with keywords. The FAQ says that once enough people use a tag, it shows up as a suggestion for others. But I always see weird tags suggested. Either way, it's pointless, because I don't know what good tagging does for me.
Then came the "firehose." The Firehouse is essentially Slashdot's answer to Digg. The diea is this: users submit stories, links, bookmarks, journal entries, etc, and other users vote on the stories. As the stories get "warmer," or redder, the entries because available to the editors to convert into real news items. Neat, huh? The idea is cool, except the interface is nowhere near as dynamic or alive as Digg's, and the content doesn't rotate as fast. And the load time hurts. So I never use it.
In the last 6 months to a year, Slashdot began rolling out "D2," their new dynamic discussion system. It is a replacement for the static comment system of days past. The problem is multi-fold, however. Firstly, the layout is a screaming nightmare. There is so much whitespace and what is there is totally overwhelming. Big garish buttons take the place of links or real buttons. Dynamically fetched text takes many seconds to load, even generic insertions like a comment form takes 5 seconds plus to appear. Slashdot has become flat out slow. And D2, which should have remedied a lot of that, has not lived up to its promise.
All the places where things got dynamic on the site feels like a new paradigm being smashed into old code. I wonder if Slashdot might be better off rewriting the entire engine as version 3.0. I know that sounds scary, but when OSNews was starting to feel the pain, we ditched the entire front end and rewrote it - every single line of PHP and HTML and CSS and JS. A combination of creative time-based caching, caching on request, and sleek, optimized queries resulted in a snappy and very responsive front end with smooth ajax integration, a super fast loading page (minus the ads, subscribe today!), and a zero lag experience. The differences between the v3 backend and v4? None. If you exclude new features we built in (news tags, extended user preferences, and conversations), the backend is exactly the same.
Slashdot's database likely won't have to be dumped or modified at all to rewrite all of their Perl and Javascript/Ajax. But it might result in a faster, smoother, nicer looking front end. It's time to reel in the speed issues - the entire site takes forever to load (a 200K front page plus externals doesn't help). It's time to fix the ajaxian display weirdness. It's time to get your JS working well in Opera. Fix those and then perhaps we can deal with the elitist userbase.
Comments (0) |
461 view(s)
It was reported by several sources this week that after an embarassing affair with a prostitute, the Facebook logo has gone into hiding. Actually, what has been happening for me is that the Facebook logo has been randomly disappearing for me in my browser. In fact, most days, lately, in Opera 9.26, this is what I see:
When I dug around, I found the Facebook logo actually has the "on" and "off" image in one file and uses a CSS and "hover" trick to create the little home icon next to the logo. Neat.
Has anyone else experienced the mystery of the disappearing Facebook logo? Other Opera users maybe?
Comments (1) |
1064 view(s)
You might suggest that I was writing about something that isn't a very far fetched suggestion, but I think I was writing about something I had not seen suggested elsewhere ever when I said that Apple should release Safari for Windows. And then today, Mary Jo Foley, former Microsoft Watch columnist, suggests that the Mozilla Foundation seems to believe that Safari for Windows is coming.
If Apple ports Cocoa to Windows (like they obviously have done with at least a subset of Carbon in order to run Quicktime and iTunes), they can introduce all sorts of Mac software for Windows which could very keenly familiarize Windows users with the Mac experience to help lure potential switchers, people who might be close to considering a new computer and having to face a learning curve with Vista anyway.
In other words, this is great news. I'm firmly on Opera right now, but if Safari for Windows came out, you never know...
Comments (2) |
1985 view(s)
This weekend, JP and I zipped up to a wedding in Alabama. We stayed in Columbus, Georgia and got to spend some time with her family. It was actually a pretty fun weekend, despite two long drives two days apart. Here are the pictures.
More importantly, tonight we are heading to visit a Central Florida Labradoodle breeder to check out their puppies. I cannot wait to get a dog.
Comments (0) |
1547 view(s)
So, this is my first post to firsttube.com from Internet Explorer 7 (RC1). I have to admit, I really like this browser. Now, it will definitely not replace Firefox on my work PC, but it's certainly a hell of a lot better than IE6. A HELL of a lot better.
I really do like the mini-tab new tab button. It's useful. I also REALLY dig the default RSS stylesheet.
It has a ways to go with CSS still. Firsttube.com - the admin portion - actually rendered better in IE6. Some of the javascript and style create some weird uninteded effects, such as dynamically displayed divs overlapping out of their container div.
Also, the refresh button KILLS me. It's on the other side of the address bar, and as far as I can tell, can't be moved. This is REALLY lame. I hate that.
I sold my Macbook Pro the other night to a fellow geek who wanted to tri-boot Windows, Linux, and the Mac OS. I gave him about a hour and a half tutorial, and he actually kept dropping to the terminal to run commands like a true geek. He was very happy, and has since told me about how happy he is with it.
In the meantime, I bought a new iMac: 20" with the 256 video card. I'll need to add some RAM, but in the meantime, it's going to be awesome.
Comments (1) |
1754 view(s)
Lots of progress on Flip Lite 2.0. i actually added some features that i don't have in the ft blog. Sadly, adding them will probably be a lot of work since this blog is pretty friggin seriously customized. But still, I hope to get it done soon. Then c2.
In the meantime, the new spam filter we have at work is so damned cool. I cannot wait til I tighten the filters.
Lastly, Terrapin Station, one of the coolest songs ever.
Comments (0) |
688 view(s)
Tags: Random
If everything is really computerized, and the whole world is going to be connected to the internet, why aren't there more computer jobs? I think of myself as having a pretty wide skillset, but in perousing jobs, I'm surprised that there are so few positions advertised and so few bites when you dangle the worm.
I imagine that if the world is going to be like how they picture it during commercials and movies, we're going to have to get moving. That means someone is going to have to offer me a job making good money soon. Preferably in the Orlando area.
So, employers and managers in the Orlando region, get to work. Find me a new job, please.
Comments (0) |
602 view(s)
I think this new Verizon ad is the best ad ever. You know the one, set to Mike and the Mechanics' "All I Need is a Miracle?" Friggin great. Let's examine why.
The Premise
Scott and Catherine are a couple in the midst of a spat. Catherine is pissed, and won't speak to Scott. He's down, cause he's really got a thing for her. Scott, clearly not usually a hopeless romantic, is truly bothered and is legitimately scared of losing Catherine, and makes a number of cutesy attempts to prove his devotion and apology. We get a number of glimpses of Scott moping about, strumming his guitar aimlessly, even laying the bathtub.
The Product
The ad is for Verizon. Scott wants back in with Catherine and is trying to get in touch with her. Amongst the methods Scott attempts include calling her long distance, no doubt via Verizon long distance, leaving her Verizon voice mail (17 voice mails, to be precise), calling her from his Verizon cell phone, faxing her a handwritten apology, and e-mailing her photos that she is receiving via her Verizon e-mail on her Verizon DSL connection. Brilliant. You, the consumer, barely even notice this. As you're enthralled in the backstory.
The Purpose
I don't know what to think. First off, the acting, at least on the part of Catherine, is pretty decent. I was honestly convinced, based on her eyes alone, in the last shot, that Catherine was hurting. I'm no cheeseball, but I found myself, quite strangely, empathizing with these characters I'd known for about 20 seconds.
Moreoever, All I Need is a Miracle is a great mid-80's staple. The first few times I saw the commercial, I concentrated on little more than the song. Too many commercial bit-song remakes are done so poorly, and have such a mass-market, bland-voice, generic feel to them. This remake is not so poor, in fact, it's decent. It works well with the characters.
The Pitch
Why's it deserving of a few paragraphs of yours and my time? If you're a writer, you know, it's damn tough to pack a lot of substance into a little space or time. This commercial, which not only touches on a myriad of products, develops an intricate storyline that lets us know a tremendous amount about two characters in a very short span. The characters are not flat characters, in fact, you empathize with them and secretly and quietly rejoice when, at the end of the ad, Catherine shows up at Scott's door, seemingly to give him another chance. It's a play. It's a complete story. It's got action, ups and downs, twists, and a resolution with even the suggestion of a bright future for the characters. How many other ads have you seen where you care about the fate of the characters? I can hardly say I care much what happed to the Trix bunny, the kid from Tootsie Roll land, or, God help us, Steven, the Dell dude.
Sure, I could just go on about my life. But with TV like it's been lately - stupid reality show after reality show - ads like this one are actually better than the programs.
Comments (0) |
2454 view(s)
>> Slashdot: Slowing Rotting from the Inside Out 2008-04-28 14:46:43
Sometime ago, say, 1999, Slashdot was the king of the online tech world. In fact, from a "hits" standpoint, they may still be, if not second to Digg. Slashdot has always been the first big blog-style tech site, long before the word "blog" meant anything to anyone, and somehow, Rob Malda and crew are still relevant in the scene.Not too long ago, Slashdot started overhauling their incredibly horrendous HTML and rewriting in mostly compliant HTML. The goal of the rewrite, amongst many other things, such as incredible bandwidth savings, was to support stylesheets and graceful degrade. When all was ready, Slashdot held a contest to solicit new stylesheets and received tons of submissions, some really cool and others really ugly, and chose a very nice, very reserved, very modern-but-conservative one as their new default style.
Let's back up a bit: Slashdot is written in Perl - ack! - and is built upon an open source system called, simply enough, "Slash." Slash code is horrendously out-of-date and the last download is pathetically old. In fact, the only way to get Slash in any recent form is via CVS access. Slash requires mod_perl and tons of Apache and perl customization. Since Slash is tried-and-true, it's not really "new" code. And it shows in many ways.
Not too long ago, the Slash folks started realizing that new technologies and new sites were introducing amazing interactive features. Perhaps they realized when a chunk of their userbase got fed up and left for sites like Digg, Techcrunch, Mixx, or some other aggregation type site. Nonetheless, the Slash team started hacking in features that emulated many of the Web 2.0 sites. First it was tagging. "Taggging" has been in beta for some time now. It allows users to arbitrarily tag a story with keywords. The FAQ says that once enough people use a tag, it shows up as a suggestion for others. But I always see weird tags suggested. Either way, it's pointless, because I don't know what good tagging does for me.
Then came the "firehose." The Firehouse is essentially Slashdot's answer to Digg. The diea is this: users submit stories, links, bookmarks, journal entries, etc, and other users vote on the stories. As the stories get "warmer," or redder, the entries because available to the editors to convert into real news items. Neat, huh? The idea is cool, except the interface is nowhere near as dynamic or alive as Digg's, and the content doesn't rotate as fast. And the load time hurts. So I never use it.
In the last 6 months to a year, Slashdot began rolling out "D2," their new dynamic discussion system. It is a replacement for the static comment system of days past. The problem is multi-fold, however. Firstly, the layout is a screaming nightmare. There is so much whitespace and what is there is totally overwhelming. Big garish buttons take the place of links or real buttons. Dynamically fetched text takes many seconds to load, even generic insertions like a comment form takes 5 seconds plus to appear. Slashdot has become flat out slow. And D2, which should have remedied a lot of that, has not lived up to its promise.
All the places where things got dynamic on the site feels like a new paradigm being smashed into old code. I wonder if Slashdot might be better off rewriting the entire engine as version 3.0. I know that sounds scary, but when OSNews was starting to feel the pain, we ditched the entire front end and rewrote it - every single line of PHP and HTML and CSS and JS. A combination of creative time-based caching, caching on request, and sleek, optimized queries resulted in a snappy and very responsive front end with smooth ajax integration, a super fast loading page (minus the ads, subscribe today!), and a zero lag experience. The differences between the v3 backend and v4? None. If you exclude new features we built in (news tags, extended user preferences, and conversations), the backend is exactly the same.
Slashdot's database likely won't have to be dumped or modified at all to rewrite all of their Perl and Javascript/Ajax. But it might result in a faster, smoother, nicer looking front end. It's time to reel in the speed issues - the entire site takes forever to load (a 200K front page plus externals doesn't help). It's time to fix the ajaxian display weirdness. It's time to get your JS working well in Opera. Fix those and then perhaps we can deal with the elitist userbase.
Comments (0) |
461 view(s)
>> The Facebook Logo Has Gone Into Hiding 2008-03-13 13:01:31
It was reported by several sources this week that after an embarassing affair with a prostitute, the Facebook logo has gone into hiding. Actually, what has been happening for me is that the Facebook logo has been randomly disappearing for me in my browser. In fact, most days, lately, in Opera 9.26, this is what I see: 
When I dug around, I found the Facebook logo actually has the "on" and "off" image in one file and uses a CSS and "hover" trick to create the little home icon next to the logo. Neat.
Has anyone else experienced the mystery of the disappearing Facebook logo? Other Opera users maybe?
Comments (1) |
1064 view(s)
>> Did I Call This or What?? 2007-01-12 08:24:57
You might suggest that I was writing about something that isn't a very far fetched suggestion, but I think I was writing about something I had not seen suggested elsewhere ever when I said that Apple should release Safari for Windows. And then today, Mary Jo Foley, former Microsoft Watch columnist, suggests that the Mozilla Foundation seems to believe that Safari for Windows is coming. If Apple ports Cocoa to Windows (like they obviously have done with at least a subset of Carbon in order to run Quicktime and iTunes), they can introduce all sorts of Mac software for Windows which could very keenly familiarize Windows users with the Mac experience to help lure potential switchers, people who might be close to considering a new computer and having to face a learning curve with Vista anyway.
In other words, this is great news. I'm firmly on Opera right now, but if Safari for Windows came out, you never know...
Comments (2) |
1985 view(s)
>> Wedding, Dog 2006-10-02 15:22:42
This weekend, JP and I zipped up to a wedding in Alabama. We stayed in Columbus, Georgia and got to spend some time with her family. It was actually a pretty fun weekend, despite two long drives two days apart. Here are the pictures. More importantly, tonight we are heading to visit a Central Florida Labradoodle breeder to check out their puppies. I cannot wait to get a dog.
Comments (0) |
1547 view(s)
>> First Post from IE7 2006-09-14 12:47:44
So, this is my first post to firsttube.com from Internet Explorer 7 (RC1). I have to admit, I really like this browser. Now, it will definitely not replace Firefox on my work PC, but it's certainly a hell of a lot better than IE6. A HELL of a lot better. I really do like the mini-tab new tab button. It's useful. I also REALLY dig the default RSS stylesheet.
It has a ways to go with CSS still. Firsttube.com - the admin portion - actually rendered better in IE6. Some of the javascript and style create some weird uninteded effects, such as dynamically displayed divs overlapping out of their container div.
Also, the refresh button KILLS me. It's on the other side of the address bar, and as far as I can tell, can't be moved. This is REALLY lame. I hate that.
I sold my Macbook Pro the other night to a fellow geek who wanted to tri-boot Windows, Linux, and the Mac OS. I gave him about a hour and a half tutorial, and he actually kept dropping to the terminal to run commands like a true geek. He was very happy, and has since told me about how happy he is with it.
In the meantime, I bought a new iMac: 20" with the 256 video card. I'll need to add some RAM, but in the meantime, it's going to be awesome.
Comments (1) |
1754 view(s)
>> progress progress... 2004-05-10 20:31:15
Lots of progress on Flip Lite 2.0. i actually added some features that i don't have in the ft blog. Sadly, adding them will probably be a lot of work since this blog is pretty friggin seriously customized. But still, I hope to get it done soon. Then c2. In the meantime, the new spam filter we have at work is so damned cool. I cannot wait til I tighten the filters.
Lastly, Terrapin Station, one of the coolest songs ever.
Comments (0) |
688 view(s)
>> Computers Run the World 2003-01-23 16:11:00
Tags: Random
If everything is really computerized, and the whole world is going to be connected to the internet, why aren't there more computer jobs? I think of myself as having a pretty wide skillset, but in perousing jobs, I'm surprised that there are so few positions advertised and so few bites when you dangle the worm. I imagine that if the world is going to be like how they picture it during commercials and movies, we're going to have to get moving. That means someone is going to have to offer me a job making good money soon. Preferably in the Orlando area.
So, employers and managers in the Orlando region, get to work. Find me a new job, please.
Comments (0) |
602 view(s)
>> All I Need Is A Miracle 2003-01-15 20:46:00
I think this new Verizon ad is the best ad ever. You know the one, set to Mike and the Mechanics' "All I Need is a Miracle?" Friggin great. Let's examine why. The Premise
Scott and Catherine are a couple in the midst of a spat. Catherine is pissed, and won't speak to Scott. He's down, cause he's really got a thing for her. Scott, clearly not usually a hopeless romantic, is truly bothered and is legitimately scared of losing Catherine, and makes a number of cutesy attempts to prove his devotion and apology. We get a number of glimpses of Scott moping about, strumming his guitar aimlessly, even laying the bathtub.
The Product
The ad is for Verizon. Scott wants back in with Catherine and is trying to get in touch with her. Amongst the methods Scott attempts include calling her long distance, no doubt via Verizon long distance, leaving her Verizon voice mail (17 voice mails, to be precise), calling her from his Verizon cell phone, faxing her a handwritten apology, and e-mailing her photos that she is receiving via her Verizon e-mail on her Verizon DSL connection. Brilliant. You, the consumer, barely even notice this. As you're enthralled in the backstory.
The Purpose
I don't know what to think. First off, the acting, at least on the part of Catherine, is pretty decent. I was honestly convinced, based on her eyes alone, in the last shot, that Catherine was hurting. I'm no cheeseball, but I found myself, quite strangely, empathizing with these characters I'd known for about 20 seconds.
Moreoever, All I Need is a Miracle is a great mid-80's staple. The first few times I saw the commercial, I concentrated on little more than the song. Too many commercial bit-song remakes are done so poorly, and have such a mass-market, bland-voice, generic feel to them. This remake is not so poor, in fact, it's decent. It works well with the characters.
The Pitch
Why's it deserving of a few paragraphs of yours and my time? If you're a writer, you know, it's damn tough to pack a lot of substance into a little space or time. This commercial, which not only touches on a myriad of products, develops an intricate storyline that lets us know a tremendous amount about two characters in a very short span. The characters are not flat characters, in fact, you empathize with them and secretly and quietly rejoice when, at the end of the ad, Catherine shows up at Scott's door, seemingly to give him another chance. It's a play. It's a complete story. It's got action, ups and downs, twists, and a resolution with even the suggestion of a bright future for the characters. How many other ads have you seen where you care about the fate of the characters? I can hardly say I care much what happed to the Trix bunny, the kid from Tootsie Roll land, or, God help us, Steven, the Dell dude.
Sure, I could just go on about my life. But with TV like it's been lately - stupid reality show after reality show - ads like this one are actually better than the programs.
Comments (0) |
2454 view(s)