Or more than a bit crotchety and cantankerous.
Because I could have sworn things were different back then! Amazing as it may seem, I've been online somewhere out there for more than ... *whoa* ten years now.
In ye old days when the wee internet was still practically an toddler sucking on mama's milk, we newbies were all taught one cardinal rule for websites. Keep it simple. Almost a sacred mantra for most of us.
Honestly one of the main adages was to write for that poor struggling hermit fellow up in the chilly Himalayas on an ancient creaking computer not seen since Buddha's blessed birth - an archaic network crawling pathetically on the info highway at a geriatric speed of 1 byte per hour. So we kept it accessible to all, paid attention to loading times ( try my utmost best to keep it down though I sometimes can't resist that humongous jpeg ) and tried not to place too many distracting blinking / rotating images.
Even had some kind folks leaving quaint friendly warnings of graphic intensive pages right at the top.
Keeping it simple during a particularly sultry summer at the hermitage...
Yup, life on the internet frontier seemed simple enough back then.
Seems like that particular rule has been scrapped in the latest versions of the DIY Website Bible. These days young whippersnappers are cooking up fancy schmancy websites crammed up to the gills with various bells and whistles. Clocks and timers. News bulletins and classifieds. MP3 Players and Youtubes. Gizmos that shoot out stars and dancing chattering babies that swing the hula hoop over at the jam-packed sidebar.
It's great and all that but have ye thought of that hapless Himalayan hermit? Not everyone's speeding on jet engines along that information highway... there are some still struggling on malfunctioning tricycles somewhere. Even some on... *gasp* unstable dial-up connections. Like my hermit buddy out there in his isolated monastery. Surely it'll take more than a day or two of him twiddling his thumbs watching snow and ice collect on his stubby nose before the website presents itself for his enjoyment.
And that's if his antiquated system doesn't crash with all that information.
I can imagine the younger cowpokes staring at me with consternation - boys who find the notion of a world without broadband unimaginable! - wondering what I'm babbling about :) No doubt wondering where in the world I inherited such an old-fashioned notion.
7 comments:
hahaha...sry paul but today without broadband connection, its as good as not having an internet connection at all.
besides, one less distraction for the hapless Himalayan hermit and more time for thinking eh ;)
Hahaha... I still keep my sites simple and elegant. But I would still gripe if I don't have the broadband connection. :p
Getting old?! Tell me about it. Make sure you exercise (physically or mentally) to keep on being younger... LOL... that's what I am trying to do. :p
well it what we have become dr. internet,pc,hp,psp,tv-pratically today generation can't live without these list, and it may go on (the list i mean). haha does this means i'm old too? i guess i dont want to know the answer yet. hahaha (^^)
Somehow or another we, ourselves think that we couldn't live without such technologies but hey..throw me into the jungle and I'll still survive till 80..or maybe 60....=)
It's the survival of the fittest anyway. Those who can't live without broadband isn't fit enough then...hahaha
Very, very good observation doc paul. I didnt have any problem, at all, when my DSL connection is impeccable but when it was disconnected out of nowhere, i guess i literally became that Himalayan hermit.
Not everyone is gifted with ultra high speed internet connection so i find it prudent to keep personal sites short and simple, sans the contraptions, too much widgets or videos which is like "hell" for a dial up user me. Some people couldnt get over the fact that purpose trumps appearance. After all, what the readers are really after are content and lessons rather than the aesthetics. (Or is it?)
Rather true - but then again it wasn't really called 'blogging' then - it was more of 'having your own webpage/website'.
Goodness if we bloghop like we do now using a 28.8 modem, our bills will just kill us.
True enough, comically sad but not everyone out there has broadband :P Really!
Certainly would complain if I didn't have broadband, ryan!
Definitely will continue to expand, josh. Who knows what our kids would be playing with!
I doubt I could survive for long without broadband... would drive me insane, m5lvin.
Some of the contraptions drive me crazy. Especially when they're way too distracting, ruff nurse.
True enough, janvier.
Paul
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