text, the net, and bandwidth fluff
Mar. 18th, 2008 09:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_eI've been reading a lot lately... well, I always read a lot, but lately I've been reading even more than normal. I have thousands of paper-based books, but have come to dislike reading paper. I much prefer ebooks. Specifically, I like reading them on my little Palm computer.
I'd finished reading an ebook of Keith Laumer stories I'd downloaded from the Baen Free Library http://www.baen.com/library/ some time ago. It was a lot of fun. I enjoy Keith Laumer's sense of humor. I felt I needed something else to read, but didn't want to read paper, so I tried a number of short pieces I'd downloaded from various places, but nothing felt satisfying. It had been a while since I'd visited Baen Books online, so I went to see what's new in their free collection. I have no money at the moment so couldn't afford to buy anything. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they've added quite a lot more titles to their free library. After browsing the library for a while to see what might suit me, and downloading a few books, I realised an odd thing. Each web page was taking an incredible amount of time to load. In fact they took almost as long to load as the books took to download. This is crazy, I thought. How can that be? Each page is just a few small images and a paragraph or two of text. So I looked at their source code. Each page is about 95% fluff -- unnecessary code -- and each page carries about 100K of mostly useless images. I'm not sure, but they same images seemed to have to be downloaded repeatedly instead of re-using cached images, which is odd.
I'm saddened by this, but it is not entirely unexpected. I come across more and more pages like this nowadays. People have even come to expect it. A few times recently people have been interested when I've mentioned that I make web pages, and have suggested that I might be interested in doing their pages for them. It has gotten to the point now where I feel a bit defeated by this after I ask a few questions to see what they want. Almost invariably they want a glossy magazine page on the net. But the net is very different to paper. They operate according to very different rules. When you turn over a page in a magazine it is just there whether it is a high-resolution photograph or plain text. On the net these things come with a cost. Text loads quickly (so long as it doesn't have great dollops of hidden code accompanying it). Pictures come more slowly, and much more slowly if they are large. Flash images not only take a long time to download, they can bring a computer to its knees by placing heavy computational demands upon it as well.
Lately many computer professionals have been showing a great love for dynamically generated pages. There is a very good place for dynamically generated pages, but they certainly aren't a cure-all. In fact if used for everything then they can generate vast swathes of garbage, which is left in pages, it seems, because it is easier than leaving it out. It has become one of those fads that seem to grip the computing community from time to time, and is making the net as slow as cold molasses.
Some time back I'd downloaded a story from another site, and last night reformatted it so I could read it on my Palm. About a third of it was unnecessary code! Worse, it was stuff that made it difficult to read on low resolution screens or to adapt to different fonts. And it was all stuck inside a table, which is one of my pet hates. I'm continually astounded at how many computer professionals don't realise that text inside a table doesn't display until it has all downloaded. This means a person on dialup trying to load a page filled with heaps of crap sits for ages watching a blank screen. That's just plain stupid. Most of the time the decision to use tables has no particular logic behind it. It is more, "We need to move the text across a little bit so we can fit a pretty image here so the logo can peek out the side near the top". It is the glossy magazine thing again.
I, like most people online, am on dialup. It feels like increasing numbers of web pages are getting slower to load as more web page creators snottily expect that everybody has top-of-the-range computers on broadband connections. I've mentioned to a number of such web designers how illogical it is that they design for a minority of their viewers, but many seem to feel such considerations are beneath them. It is not that they want to exclude people, it seems more that they simply don't understand the problem: "I have a fast machine on broadband it isn't my problem if others don't." That's depressing.
I wonder now how much of the internet traffic is just the electronic equivalent of smog.
I'd finished reading an ebook of Keith Laumer stories I'd downloaded from the Baen Free Library http://www.baen.com/library/ some time ago. It was a lot of fun. I enjoy Keith Laumer's sense of humor. I felt I needed something else to read, but didn't want to read paper, so I tried a number of short pieces I'd downloaded from various places, but nothing felt satisfying. It had been a while since I'd visited Baen Books online, so I went to see what's new in their free collection. I have no money at the moment so couldn't afford to buy anything. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they've added quite a lot more titles to their free library. After browsing the library for a while to see what might suit me, and downloading a few books, I realised an odd thing. Each web page was taking an incredible amount of time to load. In fact they took almost as long to load as the books took to download. This is crazy, I thought. How can that be? Each page is just a few small images and a paragraph or two of text. So I looked at their source code. Each page is about 95% fluff -- unnecessary code -- and each page carries about 100K of mostly useless images. I'm not sure, but they same images seemed to have to be downloaded repeatedly instead of re-using cached images, which is odd.
I'm saddened by this, but it is not entirely unexpected. I come across more and more pages like this nowadays. People have even come to expect it. A few times recently people have been interested when I've mentioned that I make web pages, and have suggested that I might be interested in doing their pages for them. It has gotten to the point now where I feel a bit defeated by this after I ask a few questions to see what they want. Almost invariably they want a glossy magazine page on the net. But the net is very different to paper. They operate according to very different rules. When you turn over a page in a magazine it is just there whether it is a high-resolution photograph or plain text. On the net these things come with a cost. Text loads quickly (so long as it doesn't have great dollops of hidden code accompanying it). Pictures come more slowly, and much more slowly if they are large. Flash images not only take a long time to download, they can bring a computer to its knees by placing heavy computational demands upon it as well.
Lately many computer professionals have been showing a great love for dynamically generated pages. There is a very good place for dynamically generated pages, but they certainly aren't a cure-all. In fact if used for everything then they can generate vast swathes of garbage, which is left in pages, it seems, because it is easier than leaving it out. It has become one of those fads that seem to grip the computing community from time to time, and is making the net as slow as cold molasses.
Some time back I'd downloaded a story from another site, and last night reformatted it so I could read it on my Palm. About a third of it was unnecessary code! Worse, it was stuff that made it difficult to read on low resolution screens or to adapt to different fonts. And it was all stuck inside a table, which is one of my pet hates. I'm continually astounded at how many computer professionals don't realise that text inside a table doesn't display until it has all downloaded. This means a person on dialup trying to load a page filled with heaps of crap sits for ages watching a blank screen. That's just plain stupid. Most of the time the decision to use tables has no particular logic behind it. It is more, "We need to move the text across a little bit so we can fit a pretty image here so the logo can peek out the side near the top". It is the glossy magazine thing again.
I, like most people online, am on dialup. It feels like increasing numbers of web pages are getting slower to load as more web page creators snottily expect that everybody has top-of-the-range computers on broadband connections. I've mentioned to a number of such web designers how illogical it is that they design for a minority of their viewers, but many seem to feel such considerations are beneath them. It is not that they want to exclude people, it seems more that they simply don't understand the problem: "I have a fast machine on broadband it isn't my problem if others don't." That's depressing.
I wonder now how much of the internet traffic is just the electronic equivalent of smog.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
I love it
Date: 2008-03-18 05:00 pm (UTC)Here's what I wrote before:
I 'm reading it now.
OK so one of the parts of my brain that got washed out in the flood was the part that controls concentration. So all I'd read before was the love scene. I don't know why you still answer my letters: I'm ridiculous.
Anyhow, The first time, I'd read a couple of chapters and liked it because you wrote it. But now I started at the beginning and devoured it, and I'd love it if *anybody* had written it.
But now (thanks to Rose Marie) some of the circuits are reconnected and I can concentrate long enough to read a whole novel, guess what novel I read first?
Joe Haldeman's _The Accidental Time Machine_.
Hey, I didn't want you to get *too* stuck up. Actually,it's the first one of his I didn't hate because he was saying how cool war is. But he may be becoming human. Or maybe I'd just grabbed a pile before and made a mistake about who wrote what.
Now about _Selena City_, I'm on chapter 11 and Marcus has just arrived, and I'll kill you if you tell me how it comes out.
But please let me know how your trip went. It's totally none of my business, but I sure wish and hope it turned out well.
There is one thing I'm pissed off at, apart from you staying away from your blog for so long -- why haven't you told me about intersectionality? After I finally read about it, I was like, you remember that scene in _Young Frankenstein_?: This. Could Work!
Anyhow, rest up from your trip, and give a big hug to the people you love.
I've got some reading to do.
Later: I finished chapter 16 ("Invincible"). ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND??? Why are you leaving us all hanging here? Forget "us", Why are you leaving me hanging here waiting for you to write more of the story?
I thought we were friends. :^p)))))
Never mind writing me with your email address. Write more of the story!
Re: I love it
Date: 2008-03-19 05:30 am (UTC)Thanks for the nice words about Selena City.
I must finish it soon... and then I have to rewrite the blasted thing because it feels like about 50% crap to me... but I can't help feeling it is somehow worth it, if only to give me the practice so I might write something truly worthwhile one day.
At some point I should get stuck into rewriting my other story, "Insurance", too. The more I think about that story the more I think it has something very good in it... even if I did it rather badly.
Intersectionality??
I haven't seen "Young Frankenstein".
The New Zealand journey was to help a friend who was having a very bad time. I did what I could (though not enough) and came home. I wish I could help more... [sigh]
Re: I love it
Date: 2008-03-19 07:19 pm (UTC)David laughed, "Hierarchical organizations!"
Or if you absolutely *have* to be wordy, add,
"Are you *sure* they built that big elevator thingy?
I'm thinking of your friend in NZ Have you read http://inastrangeland.wordpress.com/ ?
Just thinkin' . Maybe do it in reverse?
Or just keep on loving your friend, even if you have to take a step back (if only to get a good running start for your attack).
Isn't that stupid advice?
Now your govt isn't wholly infested by assholes, *I* may move there. But the weather in Melbourne scared hell out of me this weekend (I watched the F1 race, typical guy, but I still won't watch that moronic NASCAR. but the Australian V8 supercars are cool -- another reason to move). Y'all got anyplace where the temperatures are cooler than the surface of the sun?
Re: I love it
Date: 2008-03-19 11:48 pm (UTC)Sydney swings wildly too, though perhaps not quite as badly as Melbourne. Brisbane has a much more reliable temperature, and when you go as far north as Cairns the temperature swings very little. I've never been to Perth, but have a lot of friends who tell me it is a wonderful climate over there. It is hot, but dry so you tend not to feel it because your skin's evaporative systems work well... unlike in coastal Queensland with its high humidity. When it does become very hot in coastal Queensland it gives me an unpleasant feeling of drowning. Thank heavens I live over the other side of the range, in the drier country.
I haven't been to Adelaide and don't really know many people who have, but it is supposed to be nice there. I haven't been to Darwin either. My impression is hot and tropical, though I can't really say. I'd love to go to Tasmania (though not interested in Hobart) because the west side is supposed to be cool, wet, and lush, unlike most of Australia.
Don't go to live in Canberra. Apart from it being basically a town of politicians, every time I've driven through there I seem to freeze half to death.
Our reputation of being the driest continent is well deserved. Wherever you go in Australia expect to have to be careful with water... unless you are building a nuclear power plant, and then feel free to throw away more water than even coal-fired power plants.
Re: I love it
Date: 2008-03-27 09:06 pm (UTC)Hey we don't really need to eat until Amazon finishes charging for all her records.
I'll bet you guys can just turn the radio on any time and hear her.
Re: I love it
Date: 2008-03-28 10:28 am (UTC)I have heard her music, but didn't know anything about her. Australia still has a fairly large cultural cringe, where we undervalue our own artists, scientists, thinkers, and so on. Most people think this a bad thing, but it is one of the things I value most about this country. It means we are ummm... (what is the opposite to xenophobic?)... citizens of Earth rather than citizens of Australia. Not all of us, of course. We certainly have our share of patriotic bigots -- especially since the previous nasty little prime minister embarked on a massive campaign of fostering flag-waving nationalism, like the nice little fascist he was. Thankfully we've been so convinced that we are less-than everyone else over the last couple of centuries, it has been hard to shake off. :)
Play Missy for Me
Date: 2008-03-29 12:04 am (UTC)Another fave, but totally different: Alison Krauss. The next time you hear the radio announcer mention her name, get ready for a total eargasm.
The Almusic Guide, which feels itself under a heavy obligation to be snarky, nevertheless says "When Alison Krauss sings, the angels stop what they were doing and take notes."
Re: I love it
Date: 2008-03-19 09:00 pm (UTC)What would life on the intartubes be without a little blogpimping?
http://blog.crispen.org/archives/2008/03/16/intersectionality/
Off to hunt down "Insurance"
Re: I love it
Date: 2008-03-20 12:03 am (UTC)Intersectionality: doh! I should have checked your blog. I commented there now. Thanks Bob. Interesting.
Re: I love it
Date: 2008-03-20 02:03 am (UTC)OK, so it's going to be harder than I thought. Hey, if the door's closed, I'll go in the window. And if you want to come -- or if you want me to go along with you and lend a hand while you smash the state -- it's gonna be fun. Either way, or if we just slip notes of encouragement under each other's doors now and then .
Welcome back. I sure did miss you.
Intersect
Date: 2008-03-21 03:04 am (UTC)However, I did take your name in vain in one of my replies, so I figured Id better tell you so you can tell me to stuff a sock in it if that's appropriate.
Here 'tis:
It's all about allies.
We've got this beauriful country, from sea to shining sea. It's called "America."
Not Miriam, she's got another beautiful country called "Australia" where dragons live and even visit one of her trees! They're adorable.
You're welcome to join us. Even libertarians and conservatives are welcome in America (maybe in Australia, too), just so they keep their feet off the furniture and their dogmas in their own yardmas. I know some really lovely conservatives, and perhaps Miriam does too. I don't think my conservative friends really wanted to leave America, but perhaps the best thing to tell them is "Welcome back, we missed you.
When some of my conservative friends find out what the hatemongers have been doing to people in their names , there's going to be some right-wing noisemakers who won't have enough skin left on their butts to cover a small change purse.
Cheers. I did find "Insurance" on your LJ from way back when, but since neither my brain nor my cheap and nasty laptop are working properly, I'll be back to you when I've finally navigated through it. So far it's well worth the (very minimal) effort. That's a good story.
Rev. Bob, "the annoying one"
Don't blame dynamic pages
Date: 2008-03-22 04:12 pm (UTC)And they're as pure as new-fallen snow. Even my blog validates and has a good score on accessibility. I test using all the browsers, even lynx and a safati-for-Mac emulator.
I'm not saying this just to toot my own horn (I am awesome) ;-) But the big deal with generated web pages, as with other kinds of web pages, is to care>/em>
Lots of folks don't. But that's no excuse for you and me not to care.
Sure, it's harder to make good (accessible, etc.) web pages than to make crap. However, with generated web pages, if you care once, you get a payoff on every page that's henerated.
Re: Don't blame dynamic pages
Date: 2008-03-22 11:00 pm (UTC)I think most schools on web design are taught by artists who are frankly mystified by the technology. One can't blame them for trying to earn a buck (it's this silly economics thing where we often need to prostitute ourselves or starve). It is sad though.
Many people don't realise they're supposed to care about filesize. They see a pretty page on their monitor that loads fast on their computer. At that point it seems to become the end of the subject. There are some web designers though, who should know better. At one point I gave feedback to GoDaddy.com about the difficulty of accessing some of their pages, pointing out that they had to be scrolled both horizontally and vertically on screens of 800x600 or less, and that a very large fraction of users were older people whose eyesight demands lower resolutions. I didn't mention that one of the beautiful things about html (bless Tim Berners-Lee) is that it automatically fits itself to the display device. So what was the response from GoDaddy? I was shrugged off with "The web standard is 1024x768." This was such an utterly stupid reply it floored me. Of all people they should know better. These days I recommend GoDaddy to people for 2 things:
- the lowest domain and server prices I've seen, and
- absolutely the worst webpage design I've ever come across. I get confused and lost every time I visit.
Re: Don't blame dynamic pages
Date: 2008-03-27 09:11 pm (UTC)I'm so sorry.
Hey, aren't you supposed to pity me or something for a while until you forget what a jerk I am?
Re: Don't blame dynamic pages
Date: 2008-03-28 10:46 am (UTC)Oh Bob. You nut. :)
I actually haven't the faintest idea of the episode you're referring to. Either I've forgotten it (in which case I didn't see you as being bad), or you are misremembering the thing you said and beating yourself up over nothing, or you said it to someone else (you bastard :P ).
Hey. On that topic, I've noticed a disturbing tendency in myself nowadays to remember incidents that I know are unimportant, but I beat myself up over and over and over again about them. Just the other day I caught myself getting all embarrassed about something that someone else did years ago! I mentally smacked myself upside the head for that one -- if it wasn't enough that I constantly ride myself about inconsequentials, now I do it on other people's behalf???
I know I never used to beat myself up this much (I was probably an arrogant, stuck-up shit), but ugh, I have certainly overcompensated now. Personally I prefer being the tormented, agonising soul -- not for the pain, I hate that part -- but for the fact that it makes me more tolerant and helpful. I hope it makes me wiser too, but not much sign of wisdom lately... still making plenty of imbecilic mistakes. [sigh]
Re: Don't blame dynamic pages
Date: 2008-03-29 12:38 am (UTC)I think the latter is more likely. If I'd been as stupid and patronizing to you as I remembered, you'd have killed me!
sure all the Puritans came to America?
Or maybe we're both partly Jewish, if that stereotype has any more validity than all the other stereotypes that bedevil us. Surely we're a guilt-ridden species. Somebody once said humans are the only species that feels guilt. He hadn't met my dogs.
Is there a dog in your life now? It might be the dog's fault.
About 3 weeks ago I swear I yelled at my Last Remaining Therapist Rose Marie, "Christ, I feel stupid, thank you!" But I felt like crap afterward and left our gym and caught her in the hall and apologized to her, but she told me at the time that she didn't remember it at all. A few days later she said, "So what did you apologize to me for?" I think I yelled.
So now do you see what might lie ahead for you?
Maybe we can even out our karma accounts, not by being nice to somebody we haven't actually been mean to, but by being mean to random people.
Just be bastards all the time.
Re: Don't blame dynamic pages
Date: 2008-03-29 12:41 am (UTC)I think the latter is more likely. If I'd been as stupid and patronizing to you as I remembered, you'd have killed me!
> caught myself getting all embarrassed about something that someone else did years ago!
Are you sure all the Puritans came to America?
Or maybe we're both partly Jewish, if that stereotype has any more validity than all the other stereotypes that bedevil us. Surely we're a guilt-ridden species. Somebody once said humans are the only species that feels guilt. He hadn't met my dogs.
Is there a dog in your life now? It might be the dog's fault.
About 3 weeks ago I swear I yelled at my Last Remaining Therapist Rose Marie, "Christ, I feel stupid, thank you!" But I felt like crap afterward and left our gym and caught her in the hall and apologized to her, but she told me at the time that she didn't remember it at all. A few days later she said, "So what did you apologize to me for?" I think I yelled.
So now do you see what might lie ahead for you?
Maybe we can even out our karma accounts, not by being nice to somebody we haven't actually been mean to, but by being mean to random people.
Let's ust be bastards all the time.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-28 11:29 pm (UTC)Wrt smog
Date: 2008-03-28 11:44 pm (UTC)Not just xtterms, but Motif windowed apps.
Imagine all those tinygrams flying back and forth between Southern California and North Alabackwards -- through a channel that was secure enough for classified data.
One reason I got off that program (apart from the obvious one of feeling like I had to take a long shower every time I walked into the place because I was so disgusted with myself for working on a program like that) was the incredible pain in the ass it was to do anything.
Hey, with computers, it's always possible to be required to do something hideously annoying to get anywhere.