Friday, September 18, 2015

DOWNLOAD

  OK, it's time for some real Regulations on the internet. Yah, I know, home of free speech and all that, but like most folks I am sick and tired of Sneaky Advertising.

  In this instance the notorious Multiple Download Window. You have all been there. You spend some time researching some app or info and finally decide to download it. You cautiously click on the link to download, and are confronted with download buttons all over the page, all of which simply say DOWNLOAD.

  What to do? You know that one of these is supposed to be what you are looking for, and the rest are who knows what. Spam? Offers to spend your money? Things that could really screw up your computer? A  marriage proposal?

  So you end up reading nearly every thing on the page, hoping to find a clue to the mystery download. And finally in frustration you click on the one you think is right, and WHAM.

    You're suddenly downloading a gizmo to control weight loss in squirrels in Denmark, and it's only 3 easy payments of $14.95.

   After an hour or so working your way back out of this mess, you wonder why there is not a law that simply requires all DOWNLOAD buttons to have a label stating exactly what you will be downloading.

  And I don't mean some incomprehensible geek speak. I mean a label that has the NAME of the app, program, file, or sales offer, that button will download.

  If you agree, pass the word around.   KRASH

Monday, September 14, 2015

Brain Dead Programmers

On my Blogger dashboard today was the note below marked in red, from one of the guys who programs Blogger, I guess.
  I am brand new to blogging and find blogs about as un-intuitive as you can get.

  Like most people, I believe, I want to blog to say something. I want to pass on my ideas and wisdom, and maybe interact with some new friends.
  And like most people, I have NO urge to be a programmer, and as an artist, it's not even a part of how my brain works.
Expecting me to program, is like expecting a fish to walk.
Yet the note below was happily dropped on to my dashboard by some one who believes that the only people on the planet are computer geeks.

I just want to write a note on my blog page and have it show up where I want it to, and I would like it to happen with out the need to learn another language.
If the note below makes any sense to you, you have my sympathy...  KRASH


Recently we introduced a new set of expressions to the Blogger templating language, designed to let you customize the HTML of each post and page on your blog. We’ve gotten great feedback on them, so we figured we'd offer even more.


Now you can try out new tags, like:


  • b:elseif for a simpler multiple-case b:if branch.
  • b:switch and b:case for succinctly handling several possible cases of a variable.
  • b:eval for evaluation of more complex expressions involving data variables.
  • b:with for creating a nicer variable alias for a calculated value.

Blog Help

Just spent another hour on the net trying to get my blog to do something that should be nothing more than clicking a check box, or 2
And I gave up.....
I would REALLY like to sit down with someone who knows Blogger, explain what I want on my blog, and have them set it up so all I have to do is post my ideas, writing and pics.

I do not want to spend my valuable time, learning code, figuring out redirects and ULR addresses.
I do not want to start my day reading some geekspeak, explaining that to move this from here to there takes nothing more that reprogramming my life.

I want a welcome page to pop up when I open my blog with some info about me.
I want tabs that list blogs under specific subjects like, Art, Ideas, and Writing.
And I want to be able to post on any of those with out pissing my day away on help pages.
So far, as I can tell, all these simple concepts are a programming nightmare on blogs.

It's like suddenly being back in Widows 3.1

UPDATE:
Finally got some where when a friend said "Just us separate blogs for each subject, and link them"

What's New

Recently on the Blogger Help Forums the following note sat at the top of the page.

Welcome to the new version of Google Product Forums! You can switch to the old design if you'd like (but really why?).

Why?
Because most people, unlike geeks, have what are called "comfort zones." Places, things and habits that make them COMFORTABLE. A very common one is sticking to a tool, job, process or program they get used to.

Opening up a familiar page on a computer, makes people feel good. Having it show up completely different the next time they used it, generally adds stress, frustration, and anger. Which is why geeks in general are often just below lawyers and politicians on the "I'd like to hit them with a bat list."

So the next time you come up with a new "Look n Feel" try to remember that many, many people would just like to be comfortable..... KRASH


Mice

Around 40 years ago, long before many users or programmers now, were born, some far thinking geeks created the Mouse, realizing that the average person would not understand or want to spend there days learning and typing commands into what was turning into the Personal Computer.

Thus started the world of Point and Click, where even the beginner could easily make their way in the digital world, or so the dream went.
Reality unfortunately is not often the same as the dream. As anyone who tries to start a blog will rapidly find out.

In the world of point and click, blogs are like going back in time to the days when people chiseled symbols on to stone tablets. Even a beginner is expected to spend their days opening one window after another to type in commands that only a geek can comprehend, in a vein effort to communicate their thoughts to the rest of the world.

This problem is still rampant for the simple reason that Programmers still live in a world of keyboard commands and lines of typed code, and like many experts, they often don't realize that other people do not share their knowledge, or expertise, and in fact often don't even consider it an option.

You could liken it to an artist who expects gallery patrons to know how to paint, before they could look at or buy his work.

Tho consumers have literally screamed for decades about this, programmers often remain unconcerned or indifferent. Probably because like users, the technology advances so fast that even they are running to catch up.

So the next time you get the urge to toss your machine across the room, or beat a geek to death with a nail studded mouse, keep in mind that your world looks just as scary to them.... KRASH