Standards [en]

If you’re trying to convince a client to go for a standards-compliant layout using CSS, you might find these CSS talking points very useful.

Munchausen [en]

If the Kaycee fiasco raised your interest about cyberpathology, here is a very interesting article on cybersickness (exploring Munchausen and its consequences).

Thought [en]

When you look at the bright full moon in the sky above, can you feel wonder at the fact that it is a far-off satellite illuminated by the sun?

Web [en]

I’ve just discovered All My FAQs. All My FAQs is a wiki, which means that the website is big Perl script driven by the contributions of an open community. For example, anybody can modify any page or even create new ones.

I usually believe that anarchy cannot be productive, but maybe the wiki is a counter-example. It shouldn’t work, but it does!

I’m also very much aware that some areas of the web turn out to be collections of collections of links, or FAQs to FAQs. Is there any way out of this? Most of the time, the information is there – it is just useless because people cannot get at it. When a list of “pointers” gets exhaustive enough, it also starts getting too big and confusing. I guess there are some information architecture issues at hand.

A day in my life [en]

Before going for my last French exam this afternoon, I half-heartedly revised a few texts in the company of an over-excited cat (hungry and kept inside so I could monitor his tummy troubles).

I arrived at university early. My pre-exam nightmares usually have to do with having forgotten to prepare for the exam, or turning up late. So I usually arrive rather in advance. I waited in the sofas of the French department for an hour, feeling adrenalin accumulate in my body and my heart rate going steadily up.

My teacher greeted me with a sly grin: “So, we’ve picked a difficult subject for you – because if we give you a normal one, you’re going to be bored during the preparation time…” I winced and groaned of course, but in the same time felt quite relieved. She wouldn’t be doing that if there was the slightest chance of me failing my exams – and she had most certainly already had a look at Monday’s written performance (which, of course, I wasn’t happy about at all, as always).

After eating out with my brother to rejoice about the “end” of my exams, I went to listen to Eve Angeli’s free concert near the lake. The supporting act was a very young girl, eleven or twelve years old, with a very beautiful voice. At the end of the show, I went to buy Eve Angeli’s CD (it was on my “to buy” list, anyway, and I’ve finished my exams, haven’t I?) and queued for an autograph.

I was really astonished at how aggressive some people can become for a name on a postcard or a CD. I waited patiently while the crowd around me got more and more compact, and ended up carrying the weight of a fair amount of people on my right side. One woman was encouraging her children to push and squeeze to get in front. I finally gave my bag and umbrella to the mother next to me while I kept an eye on her young daughter and she left the crowd which was becoming frankly oppressing.

I got my autograph rather easily, as it was on a CD. Young Joanna was not so lucky, and I found myself doing something that makes me want to shrink into the earth in embarrassment when I think of it now.

I noticed that one of the bodyguards had picked up a dropped poster and told the owner he would get it back after. My misinterpretation of the situation made a bright idea flash through my head. I grabbed my protégée‘s poster and prodded the bodyguard: “Er, could you get this signed for Joanna, please?” The look he gave me as he answered “no” made me want to vanish on the spot and wish I hadn’t opened my mouth. My only consolation is that I would never have made such an inconsiderate request for myself, or anybody else than the nine-year-old girl whose head barely made it above the safety barrier, and who was desperately clutching a poster of her idol as she was trying to make her voice heard above the din.

I took the bus home. I usually go around by car, but tonight was an exception. I used to take the bus a lot before going to India, and I hadn’t realized how estranged I had got from the public transport system in my own town. A year ago already, when I had just landed home after a year abroad, little plastic cards had made their appearance in people’s wallets. You could use them to pay at the ticket machine instead of cash.

So this evening, I learnt that ticket machines do not return change anymore. I learnt that bus drivers no longer can sell you a ticket if you do not have change for the machine. And I chatted with the bus driver all the way home. About his job, about India and the strange time that country lives in. About being on time and buying tickets before getting on the bus. About 40-hour train journeys. About getting chastized for being one minute late on his schedule.

I got off the bus, took off my chappal (indian sandals, made of leather, do not like pouring rain) and walked home barefoot, to be greeted by a phone call from my brother telling me that the long-awaited contract from orange had arrived in his mailbox. Good news!

Life [en]

I hope that finding a parking ticket under your wiper and cat poop in your bed the day before an exam means that you’re going to be lucky with the subject.

Mars and Venus [en]

After a long and fruitful phone call with my sister, we have reached the following conclusions:

  • we both are “John Grayish” in our way of viewing relationships
  • most women who think John Gray is a backwards machist keen on bringing relationships back to the previous century have enough anger stocked up against men to last them a rather long time; the same phenomenon can be observed for a certain type of “man-hating feminism”
  • most men who think John Gray is a brutish machist with no sensitivity have enough wagons of anger against women at their disposal to last them a rather long time; they also seem to have a healthy load of anger against men, too, and to have dismissed a good part of their masculinity
  • inspired by the previous observation, we notice that the women stated above tend to have a troubled relationship with their “inner woman”
  • all this brings us to believe that the healthy development of one’s inner man is dependant on one’s overall relationship with women, and vice-versa

The observations above are generalities based on our personal experience. There are (and will always be) exceptions. Please do not feel free to flame if you disagree.

; )

Pompage [en]

Le projet pompage.net n’est pas mort, rassurez-vous. Seulement, avec les examens et tout le reste, j’avance péniblement dans la traduction du deuxième article à  paraître (et en plus, il n’est pas facile – c’est moi qui vous le dis).

L’éternel problème pour la traduction, c’est que les personnes qui ont les compétences linguistiques et techniques pour la faire sont par ailleurs sur-occupés… C’est mal fait, le monde, non? Si jamais vous vous sentez d’attaque, n’hésitez pas, les Pompeurs Associés ont grandement besoin de bénévoles prêts à  mettre quelques coups de pioche dans cette sacrée barrière linguistique.

En attendant, j’ai déniché pour vous Praktica, qui semble être une ressource prometteuse, même si le design actuel n’est pas trop sympathique pour les pauvres qui naviguent en 800×600… Je n’ai pas encore eu le temps d’explorer à  fond, mais allez y faire un tour et dites-moi ce que vous en pensez! (Mais oui, vous savez, il y a ce petit lien juste ici, dessous, qui vous permet de vous exprimer… vous ne l’aviez pas oublié, quand même?)

Web [en]

Do take the time to explore the latest issue of Digital Web: simplicity. My “twin brother” has contributed a precious tutorial on site planning.

At ALA this week, a piece on Microsoft’s Smart Tags. A rather long read, but complete and interesting.