Geek Perspective

As a web designer, I’ve been following the spat between Apple and Adobe over Flash with interest. So how do I feel about the spat between Apple and Adobe? Whose side am I on?

Well, I’m happy that Flash isn’t going to be such a crutch anymore. If a concept for a site can be executed with HTML instead of Flash, it should be built in HTML about 99% of the time.

Right now though, a lot of developers don’t do that though because they like making things in Flash more than they like coding with HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, and so on. To them, the important thing is the final product, and if they think it’s easier or more enjoyable to do it in Flash, and if Flash is perceived as an acceptable standard on the web, then that’s what they’ll use.

But now that their sites flat-out fail on the iPhone, they’ll be forced to build in HTML again. Frustrating for a lot of developers, but in the long run, it benefits consumers since they’ll get faster-loading, less buggy web sites. In the short run, it frustrates consumers too, but there hasn’t been much of a revolt since Flash web designers have always been supposed to at least build really simple non-Flash versions of their sites.

The trouble is that there’s a lot more than just web sites on the web, so while I’m happy to see this put the upcoming HTML5 into such a great position, HTML5 is just for building web sites while Flash isn’t. All the other things that Flash can do—programs, games, interactive animations, and so forth—aren’t really answered for by HTML5 because that’s not what it’s for. Sure, programmers can build programs and games for the iPhone, but what a hassle for all the people who learned to be Flash developers. It’s easier to make programs and games in Flash, and when completed, they’d work on any device that had a Flash plugin without any more work. I don’t consider myself a Flash designer, but I do feel a little sorry for my friends who are.

I can’t help but think that the biggest winners are people with phones running Android, WebOS, and other alternatives to the iPhone. They get to have their cake and eat it too. They’ll enjoy all the benefits of a web that’s built more on HTML5, and if Adobe’s latest press releases about plug-ins coming soon for them are to be believed, they’ll also get to keep enjoying all the cool things that will only ever be made in Flash. In other words, they get to eat the fruits of Apple’s labor while still being pampered by Adobe. And so to them, I say enjoy it.

If you have an interest in religion or if you want to read a story about what it’s like to become an atheist, then check out this narrative argument that I wrote for my English Composition: Creative Persuasion and Argument class.

Display in browser – You can change the text-viewing options at the top of the page to make it easier to read.
Download PDF – Formatted oh-so-nicely in Adobe InDesign because I had some extra time.

There’s a lot of meat in this one, and every bit of it is honest. It contains:

1. The way I think and why I’m an atheist.
2. How we’re treated by others (and how I used to think of atheists too).
3. The questions that got me started on the road to atheism.
4. Meeting with my old priest about those questions.
5. What it felt like to go from proud Catholic to ashamed doubter to unashamed atheist.
6. Telling my mom.
7. How different friends reacted.
8. What I hope to prove to others.

I tried to make “Good Atheists” as interesting and insightful as possible, especially for people who aren’t atheists. Let me know your thoughts.

The prequel to the D&D campaign ended the Friday before last. Hopefully, the players and I will be able to begin the main story, but that wouldn’t happen until April at the soonest.

You can download the session review (PDF). I also went and compiled all of the released materials I’ve made so far into one nicely organized, bookmarked file (also PDF).

Also, as a little web-only goody, you can see the character sheets of the enemy hero party that was tracked down and murdered during the prequel. They’re just regular HTML, so they’ll load in your browser like normal web sites.

1. Gargash the Barbarian
2. Telon the Rogue
3. Elaine the Sorceress

You may now resume your regularly scheduled Friday nights—for now!

Apparently, people think I’m cold and emotionless like a robot. It’s not true, and I don’t really like being thought of that way. I don’t wear my feelings on my sleeve or share my problems easily, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have them. So here’s something to give everybody a glimpse of my guarded side so that they know it’s there and perhaps understand me a little bit better.

——

Instructions: Find two or more quotes by other people that together say something that you’d have a hard time saying yourself. Post them with these instructions and just leave it at that. Plain text is good, and if you link to images from sites like and-i-quote.tumblr.com and postsecret.blogspot.com then you should probably also post the plain text and the url.

1. From http://mackyyy.tumblr.com/post/399430272

“Everyday,
I fight back the urge to text you or call you,
teling myself that
if you wanted to talk to me,
you would.”

2. From http://babblecrossing.tumblr.com/post/392767283/rainingdogsandfish-inspyrred-ichliebe

funny how sometimes
you’re missing somebody,
but when that somebody shows up.
you do NOTHING.

The D&D campaign is now underway. Since we were missing a player and I didn’t want to start on the main story until everybody was present, I ended up starting them out on a short prequel adventure. The review (PDF) is available for anybody who wants to follow along.

And if you want to learn more about the world and the main campaign’s story, then here is a round-up of all the little things I’ve made so far. They’re all PDFs.

• Main Story Handout
• Bio: Holy King Remwald the Jubilant
• World Map

Please feel free to leave a comment to encourage/terrify the players, but remember that I will be watching for anything that even remotely seems like unfair help.