Brandon Frohs

Something I’ve never been able to understand is why people get upset if a blogger or website displays a picture from their website or article along with a link to their article/website. I mean, isn’t that what the web is all about? Personally, I would be ecstatic if someone wrote an article on one of my websites or blog posts. I wouldn’t care what image they used from my site, so long as they provided a link to my site. What can I say, I love free advertising.

The reason this has been on my mind lately is because I’ve gone to several news websites and noticed copyright notices left and right. They even want to charge if you use the article regardless of where you use it. My first thought was ‘Oh, they don’t want people copying the article for their own use.’ Well, I was right and wrong. Not only do they not want people copying the entire article, but they don’t want people to use even a snippet without paying for it. If you’re really that desperate to make a  little money, why not try unobtrusive advertising? Get people to pay to advertise in one of the side columns. You’ll begin pulling in money in no time, especially if you have a commonly used website.

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Even if you’ve never created a website in your life, you can notice a few major things about the WHATWG’s website.

1. Their blog, which is powered by WordPress, is using the default theme with no noticeable changes.
2. Their FAQ/Wiki, which is powered by MediaWiki, is using the default theme with no noticeable changes. Even the logo looks like it was thrown in there in a hurry. It’s a nice white square with absolutely no transparency. Five seconds would have made it look much more professional.
3. Their forum, which is powered by PHPBB, is using the default theme with no noticeable changes. Once again, they just threw in their logo.

I understand that they would like to rely on a well-tested application rather than a custom build alternative, but can’t they at least make the pages flow together a bit more? It really isn’t that time consuming. I installed and set up this blog (custom theme/widgets/plugins) in one night. So, in 3 nights, they could customize the look and feel of the entire site and make it look less like it was just thrown together. This would help people to take their standard a bit more seriously. Well, that along with ignoring backward compatibility. Just tell people not to use it for 5 years. After the 5 years, browsers should be up-to-date. If they aren’t, I won’t feel bad when people abandon them because their favorite websites don’t work correctly.

I remember when I first learned of the work being done on (X)HTML5. I had mixed emotions toward the entire project. Although I’ve been a fan of Firefox, Opera, and Apple for a long time, I don’t agree with the direction they’re going with (X)HTML5. Along with the creation of the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (or WHATWG) came the return of the slow progression of HTML.

As a designer/developer, I believe (X)HTML5 is a step backward in the development of the primary web language. One of the major reasons for the creation of (X)HTML5 was the fact that many of the websites on the WWW didn’t switch to well-formed XHTML. They blame website owners, but I blame the major browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and Safari). It may just be a pet peeve, but I’ve always used well-formed HTML. Even before I knew XHTML existed, I was putting quotes around all of my attributes. I’ve also always used lowercase tag and attribute names. When I began using XHTML, closing empty tags made perfect sense. What doesn’t make sense is why others don’t follow suit. And I just can’t get myself to believe that browsers refuse to conform to a standard that’s been around for years.

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Today I read that a ton of people are offended by the use of the word ‘retard’ in the comedy movie Tropic Thunder. Personally, I’m sick and tired of people complaining about every little thing. Yes, little thing. I don’t believe people should be offended by such a small thing. It is, after all, only a word. If it was an entire book telling you you’re worthless and don’t deserve to live, then sure, have at it. But it’s only one little word. I don’t get offended when someone calls me a honky. If you don’t think it’s the same, take a look at the definition of the words honky and retard.

Honky – Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a white person.

Retard – Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a mentally retarded person.

As you can clearly see, both of these are the same term in the sense that they are ‘offensive slang used as a disparaging term.’ ‘Honky’ simply refers to a white person while ‘retard’ refers to a mentally retarded person. There is one difference to note. Notice how ‘mentally retarded person’ has the word ‘retard’ in it? Why is it taken offensively if it’s only a shortened version of the actual condition? That would be like me getting offended if someone called me ‘whitey.’ Now that I think about it, that is a better comparison. At least ‘whitey’ and ‘white’ are similar in spelling. So next time you (or someone you know) gets offended by the word ‘retard,’ just remember how utterly fatuous it is.