Asylum-ET™

Just before I last went to bed I had been on the phone with a good friend of mine and a fellow programmer. We had been discussing the days work and the progress we had made for the day. We discussed the web shop we have been building for some time now and he took a tour through the pages, options and features that the shop includes.

So far the shop has been tested to work in Firefox, Opera, Sleipnir and lastly Internet Exploder 6. At that end we decided that if it works in those 4 browsers then we should not have any issue with any other browsers so long as the browser follows standards for CSS and HTML. After testing the four layouts we have chosen to use with the shop against these three common and one un-common browsers all of them appear to be displaying just fine.

So this friend of mine noticed a bit of oddness in the browser he uses. He had stated that the top menu has one link that is not positioning properly and is not totally clickable. Only one of the two words in the link is clickable. This is most odd since the links are not linked to individual words but the both together in the same link.

From previous discussions we have had and a countless number of issues he has reported with a number of websites using this browser I would think by now he would decide to use a browser that works but he choses to be difficult and continue with this browser that has obvious issues that span well beyond our themes. He uses the browser named Konqueror. Konqueror is a browser for use with Linux only so we have no way of testing and adjusting our layout for use by it since we do not have a Linux install.

When my friend made this complaint I sleepily replied well man use a real browser. After just waking up the conversation and my response was still fresh in my mind and I can not help but to be bothered by it. Why this friend would be so set on using a browser that obviously does not work properly is beyond me. He claims that Firefox is to great an issue for him to use on Linux even though it is cross compatible between the Operating systems we use. He states that the memory and resources it uses are not acceptable and he can not use Firefox because his machine becomes sluggish.

We both have the same specs for memory so I do not see the issue but just the same it is a problem. The themes do not work proper in Konqueror and seriously enough the only advise I have is use to get a better browser. That may sound like a cop out but the thing is that Konqueror is seemingly the only one it does not work in. Until Konqueror decides to fix whatever issues they have the inhibit a large number of websites from displaying proper STOP using it. After enough people discontinue the use of it the developers at Konqueror will be forced to fix the issues or sacrifice users.

Another thing I would like to comment on is the ongoing barrage of dissatisfaction from developers that we receive on account of a message that displays in our themes that informs the user that they should enable Javascript if they wish to have access to all of the features that are available with the shop.

First of all this is good practice to alert your users of such things since they will see a degradation in the sites performance if they do not have Javascript enabled and therefore will think the website is broken.

Secondly Javascript has a place in development and about 90% of all websites use it in some form or another. Javascript has no right in handling security or anything to that effect but for the basic things we use it for such as confirmation dialog boxes and things of that nature, that is exactly what its purpose is and it is intended for use like this.

Thirdly the only people who have Javascript disabled are typically developers who are not users and seldom look at things from a users prospective. Not to mention it takes a whole of .3 seconds to click a button and enable it. Laziness?? That is what it appears to me.

So for these confirmation dialogs and such why Javascript and not using code? Well that is simple. Ease of use and saving on bandwidth as well as time. The other option is to code yet another page that when a user clicks say a delete link they are sent to another page that asks them if they wish to continue and then yet another page that says the action was completed.

Ok so that without Javascript is what a three step process that depending on the speed of your server, how many images are in your layout and so on could take upwards of 2-3 minutes since now we are going to have three page loads instead of 2 of which the last the user does not worry about to much. Not acceptable especially if all that had to be done was one short little snip in the link like return confirm(‘Do you really want to do that’) which pops up a message that the user can click yes or no and then the action is performed or not. None of this is much of an issue for developers since we all typically have 16+ MBit connections but think of your users who a large portion are still on dial up. Do you want them to come back? I am assuming you would rather they did not but we enjoy and rely on return visitors so we do what we need to please them not other developers.

As you can see we have made our minds up. The javascript notice when javascript is disabled will remain, we will continue to use the javascript were appropriate and we will not loose any sleep over Konqueror being a junk browser.

Due to recent events ALL clients must pay a 50% deposit of the total balance due to retain any form of services from us regardless of the type of service. Entertainment services will require the entire balance to be paid in full on the date of the event. Asylum Entertainment will NOT start a performance until this payment has been made so to insure your event goes as planned be sure to make prompt payments available.

Programing services will be subject to a similar stipulation were intellectual property will not be released to the client until payment is made in full and work will not commence on a project until a 50% deposit has been made on the total amount due.

We can and will NOT make quotes until a complete outline of service has been submitted and approved by Asylum Entertainment LLC at which time it will be signed and returned to the client.

We no longer accept payment programs or any other form of incomplete payment for services from anyone including but not limited to non profit organizations. If you are not prepared to pay for services do not bother to contact Asylum Entertainment LLC since you are wasting both your and our time.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause but we can not afford to continue giving our time and services away. We already have such a low rate for service that we can not afford to go unpaid.

I don’t have any solid details just yet but there was just a 17 year old boy murdered a few blocks from here in downtown Rutland, VT. Apparently at about 4:30 PM a man in his early 20’s named John Bruno just walked up behind this poor boy and slit his throat. This happened right near our Depot Park near Wall-mart. The boy passed on shortly after enroute to the hospital. We do not have any details as to who this boy was but our sympathies go out to his family

Here in Rutland we have not had to many murders. I can count the total in my lifetime on one hand. This is just disgusting that a human thinks they have the right to take the life of another for any reason. Totally un-acceptable. The real sad part outside of the murder itself is that I am willing to bet he does less time for this than the boy has acquired in age.

Anyway once again our hearts and prayers are with the family in this unfortunate event that has ended such a young souls life before it even had a chance to begin