[thesite] comments on test.evolt.org

.jeff jeff at members.evolt.org
Wed Jun 27 14:13:12 CDT 2001


bruce,

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: From: Bruce Heerssen
:
: 'Scuse me if I butt in here:
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

sure, no problem.  it's good to see you can handle the heat in the kitchen.
*grin*

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: I gotta say that I'm opposed to this new
: feature. I don't see that it adds a lot of
: value to the user experience, [...]
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

possibly for the same reason that others don't think it adds much -- cause
they don't completely understand how/when it works?

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: but I do see that it adds a lot of extra
: complexity to the code.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

it's actually not quite as complex as you might think.

it adds approximately 32 lines of javascript necessary to achieve the affect
and a couple dozen characters of code/text to each comment.  if this were to
make it to production, those 32 lines of code would be extracted into an
external javascript file making the actual impact of this feature on the end
user very small.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: Furthermore, this is the type of feature that
: is very difficult to get to work right across
: browsers and OS's.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

not as hard as you might think.  so long as we stick with dom compliant
code, perform object/method detection before attempting to access particular
objects or execute particular methods we should be ok.  i've taken it to
another level where i perform some detection server-side to save sending
down the bits relevant to this feature to only those browsers i currently
know to support it.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: FWIW, I do think that it's very cool as a programming
: excersize, which is a major part of being an evoltian,
: but it shouldn't be given a chance to interfere with
: evolt's other missions, such as providing a reliable
: resource to the community.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and how is it going to have a chance of interfering?

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: http://www.heerssen.com/evolt_comments.gif
:
: Notice the text in the second comment.
:
: Now, this was taken from win2k/moz 0.9.1, and I realize
: that this is a minority browser that hasn't even
: achieved 1.0 release yet, and I also realize that the
: script may not be completely finished, but I do think
: that this is indicative of the kinds of things that
: can happen.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the script is finished.  judging from the screen capture, i'd say the
browser isn't reflowing the document to accommodate the comment after it's
display property is set from none to block.  that sounds like a bug in the
browser itself.

thanks,

.jeff

http://evolt.org/
jeff at members.evolt.org
http://members.evolt.org/jeff/






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