Your correct in suggesting there are two types of invention. I tihnk the difference is the same as the difference between Basic and Applied Research. Of course, the trouble is that a lot of companies in the Applied Research area of development are trying to use IP-rights to squelch Basic Research/Invention that threatens them.
I think corporations who favot strong IP laws are much more in-favor of small, incremental improvements to exisiting products/business models that keep them alive. They do not want to encourage more revolutionaty invention since it threatens their existence.
nested tables impede how fast different browsers will render output to the screen, if at all. I guess what I really meant to say was don't go crazy nesting tables, certainly no more than 3 levels deep.
If you really want to control layout use CSS, that's the right tool for the job, not tables. User's of 4.x browsers won't see your LAYOUT (they should still get your CONTENT)? No big deal, these browsers are a shrinking share (less than 5% I've seen) of Internet traffic, its safe to start ignoring them.
1) Keep it simple, stay away from very complicated layouts, avoid tables if you can, avoid nesting tables. 2) Use stylesheets as much as possible, for layout and control of appearances. But avoid using fixed fonts. 3) Avoid fixed-width layouts if at all possible, make sure your design can flow. Users who want to print your pages will like you. Users at very high resolutions will like you. 4) Don't use javascript to implement any critical functionality, use it to enhance the user experience. 5) Don't use splash pages, avoid flash or use it sparinglly. 6) Try to honor the conventions of the web that users will expect: i.e. underlined text=link, don't disable back buttons.
The furhter irony of instituting a paper policy is that if someone does sue you, chances are your law firm will take your doucments and have them OCR'd into a searchable database so that they can go through it quickly.
I did this one summer back in college, in front of a PC all day w/tapes and tapes full of internal letters/documents/memos from a client that had to cataloged. The cost wasn't trivial either, we had two dozen people in front of PCs scanning each document, collecting the title, from, to, date, and subject. Plus another half-dozen or so QA people + 2 managers.
I spoke to him the year after he deployed this system, he's in the EF deptartment. At the time, he was trying to move a lot of the course online (posting & collecting assignments). A lot of his students weren't happy with the class becuase it required them to THINK and LEARN on their own, outside of the classroom (Which, in my opinion is a good thing).
Its getting so confusing that maybe the courts will HAVE to look at the issue:
- Maker A makes regular CD playing device (not interoperable w/a PC) w/o error correction and so-called copy-protected audio discs play on it fine (output to headphones or an amplifier)
- Maker B makes a CD-ROM or CD_RW that can deal with the errors introduced by copy-protected audio discs (i.e. allow "error correction" to be turned off by users or some such feature). Audio can be piped to an analog and/or digital input.
RIAA likes maker A but under the DMCA, Maker B is manufacturing a "circumvention" device by making their product behave like A's device (by removing a feature).
I'm currently readin Kauffman's "At home in the Universe" [amazon.com]. And he's exploring under what conditions complexity emerges from seeming chaos. The book isn't exactly lite reading, you ought to have a more than passing understanding of probability & chemistry, among other subjects.
Well, since it was all part of the Mandrake install, it was setup and config from the get go. It definitely helped that I'd run through it before on Windows.
I'm not typical, but I'm not a linux power user either, yet.
"plenty of free time, Linux is 'cheaper'"
I wouldn't agree with this statements. I just switched my PC to linux after flirting with the idea for the better part of a year (exposure to linux at work didn't hurt either). I downloaded the iso images from Mandrakes site overnight and had a working installation the next day in just the same time as it use to take me to install windows. By working I mean - internet connection working (DSL), email setup (even imported my old mail from Outlook Express). Only thing that threw Mandrake for a curve was my Aureal sound card (but I got drivers from sourceforge). Plus getting Apache+Perl+Mysql+PHP setup took *No* time, while it took me the better part of half-a-day to get it all working in Win.
And I won't have to look forward to my quarterly re-install of win98. The more I get accustomed to using linux, the more my reaction is "WOW - its that simple to do that? I couldn't do that in Windows!" Recent example -vim scp://host.net//file/to/edit.txt
I haven't
Slashdot Mirror
Your correct in suggesting there are two types of invention. I tihnk the difference is the same as the difference between Basic and Applied Research. Of course, the trouble is that a lot of companies in the Applied Research area of development are trying to use IP-rights to squelch Basic Research/Invention that threatens them.
I think corporations who favot strong IP laws are much more in-favor of small, incremental improvements to exisiting products/business models that keep them alive. They do not want to encourage more revolutionaty invention since it threatens their existence.
nested tables impede how fast different browsers will render output to the screen, if at all. I guess what I really meant to say was don't go crazy nesting tables, certainly no more than 3 levels deep.
If you really want to control layout use CSS, that's the right tool for the job, not tables. User's of 4.x browsers won't see your LAYOUT (they should still get your CONTENT)? No big deal, these browsers are a shrinking share (less than 5% I've seen) of Internet traffic, its safe to start ignoring them.
These are the rule of thumbs I like to go by:
1) Keep it simple, stay away from very complicated layouts, avoid tables if you can, avoid nesting tables.
2) Use stylesheets as much as possible, for layout and control of appearances. But avoid using fixed fonts.
3) Avoid fixed-width layouts if at all possible, make sure your design can flow. Users who want to print your pages will like you. Users at very high resolutions will like you.
4) Don't use javascript to implement any critical functionality, use it to enhance the user experience.
5) Don't use splash pages, avoid flash or use it sparinglly.
6) Try to honor the conventions of the web that users will expect: i.e. underlined text=link, don't disable back buttons.
There are more but these should get you started.
The furhter irony of instituting a paper policy is that if someone does sue you, chances are your law firm will take your doucments and have them OCR'd into a searchable database so that they can go through it quickly.
I did this one summer back in college, in front of a PC all day w/tapes and tapes full of internal letters/documents/memos from a client that had to cataloged. The cost wasn't trivial either, we had two dozen people in front of PCs scanning each document, collecting the title, from, to, date, and subject. Plus another half-dozen or so QA people + 2 managers.
I spoke to him the year after he deployed this system, he's in the EF deptartment. At the time, he was trying to move a lot of the course online (posting & collecting assignments). A lot of his students weren't happy with the class becuase it required them to THINK and LEARN on their own, outside of the classroom (Which, in my opinion is a good thing).
Its getting so confusing that maybe the courts will HAVE to look at the issue:
- Maker A makes regular CD playing device (not interoperable w/a PC) w/o error correction and so-called copy-protected audio discs play on it fine (output to headphones or an amplifier)
- Maker B makes a CD-ROM or CD_RW that can deal with the errors introduced by copy-protected audio discs (i.e. allow "error correction" to be turned off by users or some such feature). Audio can be piped to an analog and/or digital input.
RIAA likes maker A but under the DMCA, Maker B is manufacturing a "circumvention" device by making their product behave like A's device (by removing a feature).
Who's in the wrong?
I'm currently readin Kauffman's "At home in the Universe" [amazon.com]. And he's exploring under what conditions complexity emerges from seeming chaos. The book isn't exactly lite reading, you ought to have a more than passing understanding of probability & chemistry, among other subjects.
Is this what people want: (for Dune fans...)
God created linux to train the faithful...
So Paul Mua'dib = LT
therefore the Baron = BG
Well, since it was all part of the Mandrake install, it was setup and config from the get go. It definitely helped that I'd run through it before on Windows. I'm not typical, but I'm not a linux power user either, yet.
"plenty of free time, Linux is 'cheaper'" I wouldn't agree with this statements. I just switched my PC to linux after flirting with the idea for the better part of a year (exposure to linux at work didn't hurt either). I downloaded the iso images from Mandrakes site overnight and had a working installation the next day in just the same time as it use to take me to install windows. By working I mean - internet connection working (DSL), email setup (even imported my old mail from Outlook Express). Only thing that threw Mandrake for a curve was my Aureal sound card (but I got drivers from sourceforge). Plus getting Apache+Perl+Mysql+PHP setup took *No* time, while it took me the better part of half-a-day to get it all working in Win. And I won't have to look forward to my quarterly re-install of win98. The more I get accustomed to using linux, the more my reaction is "WOW - its that simple to do that? I couldn't do that in Windows!" Recent example -vim scp://host.net//file/to/edit.txt I haven't