I'm no big fan of Netscape 4 anymore, but there are times when I have to use it. Notably, when I'm on my boss's computer and he specifically doesn't want to see a long trail of places I visit. I'm the tech guy. He's not interested in the stuff I look into.)
I accept that many pages are going to look better in standards-compliant browsers than in Netscape 4. But they should at least render somewhat legibly. There is such a thing as overdoing the standards support.
MozillaZine (which graciously hosts this weblog) is utterly incoherent in Netscape 4.x. At the time I supported their move to break compatibility with Netscape 4.x, but now seeing that you can't read a damn thing on the main page for MZ, I'm really annoyed about it. Their page validates as HTML 4.01 Strict.
There are other people whose "advanced" and/or "standards-compliant" pages look like garbage in Netscape 4. I thought the idea of complying to W3C Recommendations was to help make HTML pages *MORE* readable by every kind of browser, not less!
Even worse when someone does the "This page is built for such-and-such browser, and if you're using an inferior browser, you really suck." Again, I don't have a choice sometimes which browser I use (say, at the library when I'm stuck with IE6). Which really stinks when I'm trying to read Ben Goodger's weblog!
Of course, when I'm on my Mozilla or Firefox builds, I usually have a totally opposite opinion (why the hell are you using Netscape 4.x?). But when you make it harder for "lesser creatures" to read your pages, that's self-defeating in evangelism.
http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/weirdal/archives/serverpost/serverpost.css
http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/weirdal/archives/serverpost/serverpost.xml
http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/weirdal/archives/integerControl/integerControl.css
http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/weirdal/archives/integerControl/integerControl.xml
I do try to keep my promises. :) I left the license out of the integerControl files; I am releasing these under the MPL/LGPL/GPL trilicense.
Serverpost I've talked about extensively already; I never did get that change made that I was thinking about. But it's still pretty stable imho.
The integer control widget is pretty simple. It's simply a widget that lets you set an integer value. If the size is set to 1, then typing in a digit (0-9) on the control sets the value. Up and down arrow keys also allow for scrolling.
Okay, so I don't sound all that great on my high horse. I have been annoyingly busy, (though it's nice to get paid) and so I haven't devoted as much time to the Mozilla-based work as I usually do.
Someone recently asked me to post my serverpost widget in a finalized form here. I will do that, but there's a couple more things I want to tweak first. Also, with my hampered Internet access right now (plus a few other problems which are more serious), I have mainly stuck to science fiction I'd also been putting off. I usually switch between sci-fi and hacking code every few weeks just to give myself a break from the norm. I'm coming off a sci-fi binge, so I'm guessing I'll be putting together some code again soon.
Wow. This is actually a pretty cool feeling.
I've been fielding about a half-dozen requests for more information -- and better yet, dialogues! -- with several different people interested in my MathML editor project. The serverpost widget is finished, and one or two people have asked for the source code for that. I've given it to them.
But the MathML editor is waking people up, and I haven't even got a working demo yet on Abacus. I'm about 50%-65% there, trying to simplify things considerably so that I can launch the project on mozdev with as little difficulty as possible.
The good news is it's only a matter of time before I have it working. The bad news is I don't know how much. I do have other things on my mind (almost none of them Mozilla-related), and at this point the editor is itself something I work on in my spare time. So it's sort of a challenge for me to figure out how to do it right.
One of the big things stopping me now from putting together a demo is deciding just how to store the templates that this editor will use. I thought I had a pretty good XML format for that, but then a good idea regarding clickable icons struck, and I haven't fully figured out how to integrate that idea into the templates yet.
I should have a couple new widgets to release here in the next few days. One is a simple integer control box, where you can use arrow keys or scroll buttons to adjust the value of a number (0, 1, 2, etc.) That one works, but it's not generic enough for my tastes. Another will be a character picker, which lets you choose a character from any of the 65,000-ish characters which XML supports.
All in all, things are looking up. Except in terms of actual employment... I've been offered a part-time job by a friend. I hope I can hold it (he's quite the professional, and it's a high standard to accomplish...).
Still, having others within the Mozilla community voice support for me and my particular project is a very nice feeling. I hope it (the support, not just the feeling) last more than fifteen minutes. :)
Of course, not everybody's going to like it, I suspect...
A few days ago, I attended the Mozilla Developer Day @ the Mozilla Foundation's headquarters. I'd made a good impression (and handed out a couple resumes) talking for about 30 seconds about my serverpost widget and asking a few questions during the sessions. Since then, I'd put my MathML editor project on hold, as I heard a rumor that someone else had a MathML editor nearly finished.
Having heard nothing about this supposed editor since then, I decided I was going to start working on mine again today.
And then this little gem showed up in my e-mail:
Dear Alexander,Congratulations! You have been accepted as a presenter for
the O'Reilly Open Source Convention 2004 at the Portland
Marriott Downtown, Portland, Oregon, July 26, 2004 - July 30, 2004.The following proposal has been accepted as a 45 minute
session for the event:"Mathematics and the WWW: The abacus.mozdev project"
The exact schedule will be determined soon, and you will
be notified of the time of your sessions(s), although the
times and dates are subject to change....
Needless to say, I'm very happy. I get to attend all the sessions I want, I'm promoting Mozilla at OSCON, and I have a deadline to get things going, including a good slideshow presentation. My work on new stuff for Mozilla App Suite is starting to pay off. The only thing that could make me happier would be a job offer.