(no subject)
Sep. 1st, 2003 01:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
changelingOkay, I wasn't going to cut this, but considering it takes me about four or five clicks to get past it, and there are people on lower screen resolutions, I'm cutting it. See the lengths I go to for you people? I just hope someone bothers to click through. [Desperate cry for attention, or genuine comment? You choose!] Otherwise I'm going to feel a right charlie. This entry took me about two hours longer than it should have. [...being that it took me two hours. *cough* yes.]
"Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money." - Moliére Feel free to correct my accent there; the site I filched that from didn't have it there, so I'm basically guessing. I do know there's an accent, though.
Ho hum. I should be in bed. But considering I don't usually get to bed until 2am most Sunday nights (when I go to see Wendy play), I feel like I'm ahead of the game. (Well, I was when I started the entry. About an hour or two ago. Eep.)
The main reason why I'm still up is because
villainny liked through to a Remus/Sirius fic by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
copperbadge, who the more observant of you will already be able to spot as a Discworld aficionado. I then zipped over to his FF.net profile and read a couple of his Discworldian stories (which were excellent), and zipped over to his webpage, and contemplated joining The Way of the Carnivorous Flamingo.
Buhfly linked through to an article on Australia's plastic money tonight. We've had it so long that the fact that it's ground breaking had completely slipped my mind. I mean, I knew, it just didn't occupy any space in my conscious mind. Apparently we've had it since 1996 in general circulation, which would mean that it came into effect when I was in grade... *makes frantic calculation* eight. I do remember knowing about it in grade probably-six, when we went to the Mint. There had been a special edition note that had recently been released, that portrayed at least one Koori man on it. I think it was yellow. Beyond that the old grey cells are a bit hazy, I'm afraid to say. It does boggle the mind, though, that America is yet to switch to plastic money, which is just better. All the articles say so. I mean, next you're going to tell me that you don't use the metric system! I mean, really.
I cleaned out my wallet at lunch on Friday, because I could no longer get it to shut. It doesn't help that I just shove receipts back in there with little thought, and I only clean it out once every few months. It also doesn't help that I have quite a lot of cards in there, including:
Woah. That's quite a lot more than I'd expected. All those cards together are about 1.25 cm thick, or the best part of half an inch. And they're all absolutely necessary, of course.
Had an awful day today, when I had that terrible mental block that prevents you from doing anything useful (described in one of DNA's HHGTTG books as "The Long Dark Tea Time of The Soul". I think it's in Life..., but I really can't be arsed looking it up, and besides, I really ought to be in bed). I fixed Diablo, guided by Chris, and played that for a bit, managing to finish one of the quests, and level my character once. And I died twice in the space of about ten minutes, which was incredibly annoying. Then I got bored, and switched it off.
*kicks pettishly* I really wish I'd been able to write something of Shadow Boys, but I was in the mood where it all seems dull and frightful, and none of the words on the paper work. They just trudge along, instead of singing. I know there's a Gaiman quote for that, but I'm not sure where... I thought it was in Calliope (not "Sex and Violets", you crazy Gaiman-freak, you), but it's not. Something about staring at a blank page for ever, and not being able to think of a single believable character... I checked The Sandman Companion for Calliope, and it's not there, either. I even googled it. I just was obviously not destined to find it tonight.*shrugs*
Moving on to my next point:_ratemy_journal. Buhfly took the challenge recently, and got a well-earned A. I was browsing through the archives, and found that I only agreed with some of their decisions; they failed some people for no easily discernible reason, as far as I was concerned. This whole "rating" thing generally makes me uncomfortable, being usually just an excuse to put other people down. So I checked out the journals of the two people who do the judging (stellardreams and obduratecrimson), and my personal opinion is that their journals are nothing to write home about. Both of them have journals that are virtually impossible to read if you have a screen resolution larger than 800x600, as the actual content is only about a third of the space, and has been contained in one of those scrolly-boxes. Now, compare that to buhfly's journal, which while it is clear that it's designed for 800x600, is still readable for those with larger screen resolutions. Not quite "Let him be without sin", but more "Be above criticism if you're going to go around condemning other people." Nowa Talutah's also rated, and gets a C. However, someone's replied and said:
blah. they got lucky that they got you. i would have failed them. cause paid account + scrolling background + free account layout = F. in my book.
This girl would fail Nowa, because she uses the Generator style. The fuck? Perhaps it's not the most original layout, but it's pretty and functional. I use Generator myself; albeit slightly altered. Nowa's journal doesn't make me want to stab myself in my eye, unlike some that I've had the misfortune to view. Speaking of eye-stabbing... the journal of the girl who condemned Nowa Talutah's journal so harshly has one of the ugliest journals I've ever seen. Someone needs to tell her that a blue background with orange and red text merely inspires seizures. HONESTLY. I don't understand these people.
I decided that I wasn't going to put my journal up for inspection, as it's not particularly flash at the moment. Clean-looking, yes. And I like it. Besides, if these people have 800x600 screens they're not going to see it in its spanktacularness. My journal is more upwardly compatible than downward, but I'll say this for it: you can still read it if you have a screen resolution lower than mine.
Shit. Just realised I missed last night's J-Files, which were all about the Moog (pron. Mowg) synthesiser. They were going to talk about Emerson, Lake and Palmer, dammit.
[Edit: Never mind, it's online. Gods bless Triple J.]
"Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money." - Moliére Feel free to correct my accent there; the site I filched that from didn't have it there, so I'm basically guessing. I do know there's an accent, though.
Ho hum. I should be in bed. But considering I don't usually get to bed until 2am most Sunday nights (when I go to see Wendy play), I feel like I'm ahead of the game. (Well, I was when I started the entry. About an hour or two ago. Eep.)
The main reason why I'm still up is because
villainny liked through to a Remus/Sirius fic by copperbadge, who the more observant of you will already be able to spot as a Discworld aficionado. I then zipped over to his FF.net profile and read a couple of his Discworldian stories (which were excellent), and zipped over to his webpage, and contemplated joining The Way of the Carnivorous Flamingo.Buhfly linked through to an article on Australia's plastic money tonight. We've had it so long that the fact that it's ground breaking had completely slipped my mind. I mean, I knew, it just didn't occupy any space in my conscious mind. Apparently we've had it since 1996 in general circulation, which would mean that it came into effect when I was in grade... *makes frantic calculation* eight. I do remember knowing about it in grade probably-six, when we went to the Mint. There had been a special edition note that had recently been released, that portrayed at least one Koori man on it. I think it was yellow. Beyond that the old grey cells are a bit hazy, I'm afraid to say. It does boggle the mind, though, that America is yet to switch to plastic money, which is just better. All the articles say so. I mean, next you're going to tell me that you don't use the metric system! I mean, really.
I cleaned out my wallet at lunch on Friday, because I could no longer get it to shut. It doesn't help that I just shove receipts back in there with little thought, and I only clean it out once every few months. It also doesn't help that I have quite a lot of cards in there, including:
- Gown of Thorns business card (where I purchased my corset)
- Current Metcard
- Keycard
- Priviledged Reader card for Reader's Feast
- Credit card (not really mine, worse luck)
- Access card for uni computer rooms
- Photocopy card
- Business card for old Editing & Publishing tutor
- ABC shop rewards card
- Uni card, sporting photo that makes me look like generic male wog (ie, gentleman of Italian or Greek descent; used in context which implies their belonging in such a "heritage pride" group as "Oakleigh Wogs". Probably wears a lot of gold jewellery and plays his stereo too loudly. I'm not sure whether this stereotype is specifically Australian, but these sort of good folks hail from a suburb quite near to mine). As I am, in fact, neither male nor of Italian/Greek descent, this is rather worrying, and rather unflattering. One of my friends from work (old work, TMC) refused to believe that it was, in fact, me in the picture. I don't blame him.)
- Last year's transport concession card, that sports same photo as uni card, as uni kindly donated the photo. I hate them.
- Business card from driving instructor, with Andie's address written on it, and the extension number of my supervisor from my last workplace stuck to it with a post-it note.
- Business card from fountain pen shop in the city, which is also blotting paper, therefore v. useful.
- Business card from random work colleague of Saxon's, with probably-his details blanked out and mine written in.
- Monash Uni swimming club, for season 2001-2002. I never used it, and it has my name spelt incorrectly ("Danila").
- Oxfam supporter card (from last year)
- Spotlight VIP club card.
- Probationary Licence.
- Video Ezy card (my family's. I should probably return that one to the kitchen.)
- Three photo booth pictures of myself, Sarah, and Nat. Forgot I had those.
Woah. That's quite a lot more than I'd expected. All those cards together are about 1.25 cm thick, or the best part of half an inch. And they're all absolutely necessary, of course.
Had an awful day today, when I had that terrible mental block that prevents you from doing anything useful (described in one of DNA's HHGTTG books as "The Long Dark Tea Time of The Soul". I think it's in Life..., but I really can't be arsed looking it up, and besides, I really ought to be in bed). I fixed Diablo, guided by Chris, and played that for a bit, managing to finish one of the quests, and level my character once. And I died twice in the space of about ten minutes, which was incredibly annoying. Then I got bored, and switched it off.
*kicks pettishly* I really wish I'd been able to write something of Shadow Boys, but I was in the mood where it all seems dull and frightful, and none of the words on the paper work. They just trudge along, instead of singing. I know there's a Gaiman quote for that, but I'm not sure where... I thought it was in Calliope (not "Sex and Violets", you crazy Gaiman-freak, you), but it's not. Something about staring at a blank page for ever, and not being able to think of a single believable character... I checked The Sandman Companion for Calliope, and it's not there, either. I even googled it. I just was obviously not destined to find it tonight.*shrugs*
Moving on to my next point:
_ratemy_journal. Buhfly took the challenge recently, and got a well-earned A. I was browsing through the archives, and found that I only agreed with some of their decisions; they failed some people for no easily discernible reason, as far as I was concerned. This whole "rating" thing generally makes me uncomfortable, being usually just an excuse to put other people down. So I checked out the journals of the two people who do the judging (stellardreams and obduratecrimson), and my personal opinion is that their journals are nothing to write home about. Both of them have journals that are virtually impossible to read if you have a screen resolution larger than 800x600, as the actual content is only about a third of the space, and has been contained in one of those scrolly-boxes. Now, compare that to buhfly's journal, which while it is clear that it's designed for 800x600, is still readable for those with larger screen resolutions. Not quite "Let him be without sin", but more "Be above criticism if you're going to go around condemning other people." Nowa Talutah's also rated, and gets a C. However, someone's replied and said:blah. they got lucky that they got you. i would have failed them. cause paid account + scrolling background + free account layout = F. in my book.
This girl would fail Nowa, because she uses the Generator style. The fuck? Perhaps it's not the most original layout, but it's pretty and functional. I use Generator myself; albeit slightly altered. Nowa's journal doesn't make me want to stab myself in my eye, unlike some that I've had the misfortune to view. Speaking of eye-stabbing... the journal of the girl who condemned Nowa Talutah's journal so harshly has one of the ugliest journals I've ever seen. Someone needs to tell her that a blue background with orange and red text merely inspires seizures. HONESTLY. I don't understand these people.
I decided that I wasn't going to put my journal up for inspection, as it's not particularly flash at the moment. Clean-looking, yes. And I like it. Besides, if these people have 800x600 screens they're not going to see it in its spanktacularness. My journal is more upwardly compatible than downward, but I'll say this for it: you can still read it if you have a screen resolution lower than mine.
Shit. Just realised I missed last night's J-Files, which were all about the Moog (pron. Mowg) synthesiser. They were going to talk about Emerson, Lake and Palmer, dammit.
[Edit: Never mind, it's online. Gods bless Triple J.]
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no subject
Date: 2003-08-31 04:08 pm (UTC)I always try to make any of my sites as accessible to as many computers as possible. So I design them for 800x600 (I use that resolution, plus it's supposed to be industry standard) but I try to do it so you can still read it as higher resolutions.
I agree with you on your critique of their journals. I was looking at them at work and I'm always on 1024x768 there (because I have to tile so many windows for what I do, I need the space) and I had to lean in close to read their entries. Even the community journal itself is sort of blah.
no subject
Date: 2003-09-01 03:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-31 05:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-04 11:57 pm (UTC)This may cause Delirieuse to fall off her chair in surprise, but I have some kind of reading disorder -- my eyes don't track very well along long lines of text. Therefore I tend to *prefer* columns of text that are limited, by design or their author's limited aesthetic imagination, to a width of 400 to 600 pixels.
Smaller text sizes also lead to denser text, establishing clearer horizontals along the base and mid-height of each line of text, making it easier to track them without skipping or losing place.
So a design that either has large text or paragraphs that expand horizontally for my screen resolution (1024) is gonna piss me off. Weird huh. But think about the size of text in newspapers, and the width of columns -- there's a strong precedent in our experience of printed text for narrower columns and smaller font sizes.
Jakob Nielsen's useability site (www.useit.com?) annoys the hell out of me -- ugliness is a design flaw!
no subject
Date: 2003-09-05 05:04 am (UTC)I agree, I also don't like wide lines of text. My modified-generator style is only 500 pixels wide. It's easy to read.
However, these journals, rather than having one thin line of text extending down the page, had a little tiny box that was about 150 pixels high by 250 pixels wide, with about an 8 point fount. That's too fucking tiny for me. I also have a 1024x768 screen res, I'm short sighted, and my monitor is just further than an arm length's away (due to the poor construction of my desk). Again, due to my blindness, I actually prefer mid-sized text, of about 10 to 12 point fount. 8 point Times New Roman hurts my eyes.
I agree re: useit.com. Very retro TMC website. ;)