Rants on the RSS Panel

I tend to think that I have a pretty good pulse on the web and the direction things are heading. I'm certainly no web designer, nor am I anything of a professional in this field, but I know a thing or two about the web and good coding manners.

I have definate opinions about how things should be done (for instance, everything should conform to standards and there should not be ANY pages on the web that do not resize to fit the browser) and tend to find that the web community in general agrees with me (OK, perhaps that's a little narcisistic, I agree with them).

I love the direction that the web is going, especially with live content, open source designs xhtml table standards (on their way) and rss feeds. There is however one thing I just can't stand - that little floating RSS panel. Can I just say that I hate the RSS panel? I do. I know how popular it is, and how it is appearing on sites all over the world (WordPress, an otherwise perfect system, tends to include it automatically in its templates) but I simply don't like it for three key reasons.

1. It cannot be customized - I know that rss is supposed to be orange and there is a big solidarity movement and all, but ANYTHING that cannot be customized (color, who it links to, etc.) is just a little too communist for me.
2. It is a pop up - Again, I know it's not REALLY a pop-up, but come on - it might as well be. It's a little menu that appears, can be moved around and gets in the way of what you are looking for. It's basically a pop up add within a site.
3. Here's the key reason - It is a crutch. This option is simply keeping people from stepping out and subscribing to feeds and choosing Newsreaders. They are too happy to click away on these little floating buggers. If you want to link to previous articles on your webpage, the code is available to do it, lets get people educated on feed use rather than handicapping them in the direction the web is going (of course, in the end, the major browsers will simply take over and there will be IE newsreaders built in to a "mandatory" "security update" for IE x.x)
   

Now, all this being said, I have used these menus often to add RSS feeds to my Newsfox reader, so I am only encouraging the horror that is these little orange monstrosities, but I must ask, please, can't we all just go with the simple feed icon? It's beautiful, customizable, inspired by Firefox and (if reluctantly) backed by Microsoft.

Note for future rant: Does anyone actually use the internet explorer active desktop? That thing is hideous

Tags:

• Web2.0

Currently listening to...

Occasionally I will throw on various posts about current books, music, movies or other activities I have been enjoying, currently on the audio playlist...

Christmas Gold (Sinatra, Crosby, Autry & others) - appropriate for the season

Stuart McAllister - The Postmodern Condition

Denver Broncos 2005 - 2006 NFL season (when in town)

Tags:

• music

Well, Google seems to know us

Just when you think you're insignificant in the universe, you search for your website during halftime of the Broncos game (21-10 Denver is driving - what a great year 2005 has been) which happens to be two VERY common words (Vernon Journal) and hey, there we are! I can't pretend to understand how Google works, but obviously you guys are all keeping up with us online - we feel the love!

So, here's a screenshot of what I found when I searched for "Vernon Journal" on Google. I'm not sure if it has any significance, and who knows what changes will occur over time, but for one brief moment, there we were. It's always nice to be number one - especially if your last name starts with a "V" which always put you on the bottom of the list.

All this to say, we just want to thank you all for all your support. Your prayers mean the world to us, your emails are great - but this shows us that you are really interested in our work here and our struggles and stories as we try to learn Akha and discover where our future ministries will be.

Enjoy the holidays (despite all my education, I have had to correct my misspelling of "holliday" five times today) and drop us a line if you get the chance - we love to hear from you. (Anderson's second touchdown of the game 28-10, Buffalo is done!) Goodnight everyone.

Tags:

• Broncos
• Web2.0

Biggest mailing day of the year...

I'm back in town (24 hours+) waiting for some friends who are coming up to our village for a night and listening to the Denver - Buffalo game (thanks to my Christmas present to myself - NFL field pass radio broadcasts) when I hear that Monday is the biggest mailing day of the year.
It hasn't been that long really, but America seems so far away. I remember waiting in lines, going to city and county buildings and all the other red tape and politic that it is to be in the U.S. There are many things I miss about America, but waiting in lines at post offices is certainly not one of them. Hope you all have a wonderful holidays - and that you've already mailed out all your Christmas greetings

Tags:

• Christmas
• worldview

Still a fan

How amazing is the world we live in today? Not three years ago and missionaries had to give up their Denver Broncos to go to the field. Here I am, sitting on the "other side of the world" with the NFL available on demand through the internet. Admittedly, there are problems with all this information and communication - anyone with the time and effort can put any amount of ridiculous stuff on the web, but used wisely it can be a real blessing.
I hope you all have a very merry Christmas - I might begin mine with a 4:30 am gift of a live Broncos game :)

Tags:

• Broncos
• Web2.0