Slashdot Mirror
Self-Heating Can
nickprecision writes "Ontro has been working for a while, and they are about ready to get to the public market. Quite a nifty little self-heating can... imagine the uses. Read up so you know about it when your friends pull one out on the ski hill."
Recently there has been some controversy over Slashdot's apparent disregard for browsers other than Konqueror or Netscape (*cough* IE *cough) ability to render the page, and some unfortunate crapfloods which would appear differently in different browsers.
The "editors" (I use the term loosely) of Slashdot appear to believe that Slashcode generates perfect HTML which any browser should render correctly, else the browser must be "buggy".
Slashcode's HTML Output
Just curious, I tried running the front page of Slashdot through the W3 validator to test this claim. The results were shocking.
Lets stick to the facts and drill down into the numbers. The W3 validator found HUNDREDS of errors on the very first page of Slashdot that you view every day. It terminated with the simple line Sorry, this document does not validate as HTML 3.2..
So, what is broken? Is it IE? Or is it the amateur garage-style open source code which is at fault? You be the judge.
Apparently, Slashcode follows the open source coding and testing ethic of "it worked for me". It's just too much to ask them to try to test their code for conformance and compliance, or even just try it on a variety of platforms.
Microsoft's HTML Output
Still curious, I tried running msn.com and microsoft.com through the validator. I was totally taken aback when the validator reported ZERO ERRORS in *either* of these pages.
Conculsion
1. It may benefit the coders to attempt to adapt to some kind of acceptable process for designing, writing, and testing their own code. Perhaps some professional experience would be beneficial here. Certainly an accountability for certain quality standards must be implemented.
2. Perhaps Slashdot should consider switching to IIS 5.0 or .NET server and rewriting their code using a stable, reliable platform like Visual C++ or .NET. Perhaps only then will the browser compatbility issues will be resolved.
These are just suggestions. I am here to help.
If you had, you would have seen:
"While on a trip overseas in the early 1990s, Ontro's founders, Jim Scudder and Jim Berntsen, came upon an interesting product ... a beverage container that would heat its contents without the benefit of external energy sources (microwave, heating element, etc.). They soon found similar products in other parts of the world, but all had two very significant problems."
Followed by information about what makes their product different.
All of you should be modded into oblivion as redundant. Have a nice day, Karma whores.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
the web has left your dorkyass behind!
Oh why don't you shut the fuck up you tosser?