HTML Tidbits
Just out of curiosity, I reviewed some of the HTML training on Lynda.com. I believed I had decent HTML chops and wanted to see how they approached learning HTML, from a beginner’s standpoint. I noticed they used “not recommended practices” in the beginning videos (no doctype declaration, font tag soup, etc.), but if you watch all the videos, they slowly add more “best practices” into the mix. And, I picked up a few tidbits I didn’t know.
Did you know…?
- The HTML 4.01 Transitional docType doesn’t require the ending <p> tag.
- The strict docTypes (especially XHTML 1) will often ignore your CSS directives.
- UTF-8 charset is the “ideal” definition according to the W3C, but ISO 8859-1 is the best in practice.
The second one I have experienced for myself. I’m not an advanced-level CSS coder yet, and XHTML (strict) practically requires it. I kept getting balked with my layout work, so I switched back to HTML 4.01 Transitional. Until I can do advanced CSS techniques, XHTML (with the strict docType) is not going to work for me.
Online Shopping and Identity Theft
I know that shopping online is a calculated risk. So is banking online, for that matter. I don’t believe I do an excessive amount of shopping and banking online, nor am I careless with my personal information. So why is it that approximately every six months I receive a notice telling me that merchant ABC or that bank XYZ has had Important Numbers (combined with personal information) stolen?
Free credit monitoring is problematic because companies only offer a minimal amount of problem solving: “here’s six month’s of free credit monitoring. You need to self-police your account in case of identity theft. If your identity has been stolen? Well, tough luck buddy, because we aren’t liable for anything after throwing you the free credit monitoring service.” Are they really off the hook, if your identity has been stolen? While I have not had my identity stolen (yet), the number of notices I receive tells me my chances are high.
Many of the conventional things customers are advised to do are useless. I use “trusted merchants” online, verifying they are a well-known merchant, have SSL, a good online reputation and no bad certs, only to find they reported a laptop stolen from their premises (with unencrypted sensitive data on said computer, no less)! I use “trusted banks,” only to read that they had a security breach on one their servers (which went unreported to customers for three months), where Gigabytes of account numbers and transaction data was downloaded.
What I would consider these (gratis) services as “going above and beyond expectations” when a possible security breach has occurred:
- Credit score (FICO or equivalent)
- Credit report (reported by Equifax, TransUnion or Experian)
- One year of credit monitoring (from one of the big 3)
- Identity theft insurance (minimum of $10,000)
- Access to legal resources if identity has been stolen
An old adage advises that “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This is my version of an adequate pound of cure, which most companies are not offering. What do you think? Am I being excessive or is this a fair request?
Summer Calm
I am taking a short break, so there won’t be any posts during the second and third week of June. With the end of Sale Season I am taking advantage of the short lull and using some time off for my personal agenda. I’m getting married June 13 and will be taking a honeymoon the following week.
Pet projects are on hold until after the National Junior Angus Show in July, so I doubt I will have much to share in the mean time. See you again on June 24!
Food for thought: Supporting the Fair Tax
When I need a break from solving a problem on a project, I tend to read something completely unrelated to the subject I was working on. I fell down a rabbit hole and just finished reading an excellent article at Change Your Tree: I Support The Fair Tax (And Why You Should Too).
It’s already known that web designers and developers aren’t well paid, and with worried whispers of a recession in the air, band-aids are not going to be a viable solution. So why not do yourself a favor? Read about a real solution.
Not to Visit: Down the Rabbit Hole
At work there are many time wasters to be found. How to get things done, with the enticing lure of play just one link away? Set up banned links for yourself. At home, I don’t care if I fall down the rabbit hole, chasing link after link until I have stumbled upon a site that is both interesting and yet undiscovered by StumbleUpon users. At work, this is the blacklist: no visiting these sites at all, because if I do…oops! I just blinked and 3 hours have gone by!
1. Facebook – I can spend hours looking at the albums my friends have uploaded. I feel obligated to read every note posted by every friend.
2. YouTube – One video leads to another video, leads to another. Hey! Wait a second! All I was doing was watching a funny 2 minute video of some cats. How did I end up watching a video of some 4 year old playing the guitar like he’s the next Mozart?
3. Shockwave – Not for the reasons you may think. The web-based games and downloadable games do not work on my Mac. I keep away from this one because it encourages me to analyze how the game was built. Like everything else on the web, I enjoy pulling apart the pieces to see exactly how the insides work.
What time sinks do you ban, when you have to get things done?
