intepid

Epiphany

mark — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:55:24 GMT

Why I Hate Internet Explorer

mark — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 03:28:34 GMT

It's fugly! I mean WTF is the menu doing over there on the right of the tab bar? It reminds me of the schizophrenic UI layout of Windows Media Player.

It's the only mainstream browser that runs on only one OS– the one they own. That doesn't exactly scream quality or commitment to the web.

setting the name attribute on an element does not actually set the name attribute, instead adding a submitName attribute which is of no use.

onload doesn't fire from an IFRAME if set from javascript.

Events that are captured use a different event object and framework from every other browser. It means having to add ugly run-time checks to the script to work out which model to use. What really shits me here is that there's no obvious reason Microsoft couldn't add support for standards compliant event objects without breaking backwards compatibility– ie they could support the standard model while still providing support for their stupid non-standard window.event

the onsubmit event does not bubble, ruining my centralized form handling

setting onsubmit on FORM elements from javascript also does not appear to work

In short, for now, I give up. IE continues to retard the web. Why does Microsoft have to cling on to this proprietary browser engine? I wish they would just switch to Webkit and be done with it.

Awesome: Scott Pilgrim vs The Matrix

mark — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:32:25 GMT

Can't Sleep

mark — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:31:59 GMT

Gah why can't I sleep... I've been in bed for 2 hours now and my mind won't STFU. So now I'm awkwardly typing this post on my iPad.

There's all this white noise in my head but I can't get a handle on it. It's all sort of vaguely hinting at something to do with ambition, achievement and midlife crisis, with tinges of regret and self recrimination. People I know are having babies all over the place, and I don't feel particularly envious of that in itself, but it does sort of leave me with a general hollow feeling about where I am right now. It makes me sad that I have nothing to care much about; everything is just kind of meh, whatever— nothing seems particularly important.

I think it's largely that I don't feel needed by anyone right now— and it's ironic (?) that this is a problem since I spend so much of my life avoiding responsibility and running away from people who threaten to one day need me. Like many (most?) people my sense of self-worth is largely derived from feeling that I am useful to others, but, being a total narcissist, I'm always fearful of being exploited for the fact that I am clearly awesome and infinitely useful to have around. And so I am drawn to people who don't need me, because they will never ask more than I am willing to give. But then, precisely because they don't need me, my self-esteem evaporates.

I try to imagine someone (a lady person) wanting me without necessarily needing me... And I find the concept surprisingly difficult to wrap my head around. Which is annoying because I have no problem at all with the reverse— I can want someone without having to need them. I think.

Which all boils down to: if you show an interest in me, I may see it as neediness rather than desire. If you show no interest it might allow me to desire you for not needing me, while simultaneously feeling worthless/useless.

I really hope this isn't just paraphrasing some Men are from Mars... gender trope— It's so hard to tell when self-reflecting whether something is insightful, bleeding obvious, or just bullshit.

Spot the libertarian...

mark — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:03:28 GMT

Limbo is beautiful

mark — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 04:14:40 GMT

Limbo, the indie game I've been waiting patiently for, has been released for xbox 36o and finally I have spent a bit of time playing it.

If anything it's even more gorgeous than I expected, although perhaps a little more gruesome. I was going to write a review, but if you click through to the trailer you will get a much better idea of it than anything I could write here.

Ultimately it is a platform/puzzler, and I am having to remind myself that as something of a nerd I am supposed to enjoy challenging puzzles– rather than just getting frustrated within seconds and wanting to throw the controller through a window. I think my attention span needs some serious stretching.

Limbo's stylish visuals are also a great reminder of what I should be working on...

Yikes, time passes...

mark — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 13:07:49 GMT

Regular readers are probably wondering where the hell I've been these last few weeks– the answer is right here, but (for a change) suddenly productive & motivated! Unfortunately the thing I am working on is not really public right now, and also does not lead directly to any sort of income stream. It's for fun and time-wasting and involves PHP, HTML, CSS, MySQL and JavaScript– it's nice to have a holiday from C++ after all these years!

One thing that the Javascript/DOM event model has reminded me of is that there is an enormous amount you can do these days in a browser, and that Windows-only client applications totally suck balls. Yeah there are lots of shiny new APIs that Microsoft is offering which would make my life as a developer easier than dirty & archaic Win32 API or MFC... but do they run on a Mac? Oh, ok Silverlight does– but how about on an iPhone? You know, those devices that almost every single person I know owns...? Yes, Steve Jobs is a bastard for locking out Adobe and Microsoft, but just feeling sore about it won't get your cross-platform app running any sooner.

Basically the thing I'm working on is a pure webapp, and the sloppy power and flexibility of it makes me want to draw up a big sign for developers which says:

If you can do it in a browser... then why not DO IT IN A GOD-DAMN BROWSER!

Imagine a simple game (eg Sudoku) you would like to play on your computer. You do a search and find various options for play... Which of the following messages sucks the least?

"Click here to download sudoko_103.zip for Windows"

"An applet from www.sudoku-online.net is requesting access to your computer – the digital certificate could not be verified"

"This content requires a more recent version of Adobe Flash Player"

"Play Now"

PS: Of course I know that many applications make no sense as webapps. In fact the two main projects I'm supposed to be working on right now, JujuEdit and Drivey, are perfect examples of applications totally unsuited to this approach. But the fact that I can't just tweak them on the fly and try them out on 4 different platforms within seconds may be something to do with why I'm having trouble giving them the attention they so badly require.

No Fucking Way

mark — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:15:20 GMT

There's this online thingy which can analyze your text and supposedly tell you who you write like, and this is what it told me:

I think it is actually cleverer than it lets on and said that just to mess with me. I even pasted some text from an old post complaining about what a terrible writer Dan Brown is, and once again it told me that I write like he does. The nerve!

[in desperation I kept entering different excerpts until it finally told me I write like David Foster Wallace. I've never read any of his work but I'll still take him over Dan Brown]