idleloops

Not Modal on Nightly Linux.

While there is room for innovation with web-based UIs, they are just really inconsistent. In fact Firefox sticks out like a sore thumb compared to other apps on my OS. And I find it a real annoyance. That's why there is a niche for a browser like Camino, that feels more native than Firefox on OSX.

When I use MS Windows I really notice this, installers, application control panels, window titles and controls - seem to be all over the place. It's a minefield. Linux desktop suffers this too with different GUI toolkits - QT, GTK etc. There's a part of you that just adapts and gets used to it. But ultimately it's a pain.

Compare the popular web browsers. Despite their convergence, the UI's are quite different.

Exactly, I think they caught on as they are a more intuitive UI than delving into your history or using bookmarks. When rendered repeatedly until you read them (perhaps weeks after,) they make for very expensive bookmarks.

Tabs/history/bookmarks I believe are the most pressing area for UI development in the browser.

A lot of this management could be pushed into the OS shell. If you could manage Windows easier - you wouldn't need tabs.

Tab behaviour is so inconsistent across browsers, apps and different OSs it hurts.

Thanks, I somehow totally missed that!

Terry Gilliam's film: Brazil spotlights the absurdity of bureaucracy. Is Brazil renowned for theirs?

Interesting nonetheless. It draws some analogies with software license agreements. I start out trying to read them, but if they exceed a few paragraphs - I skip to the bottom, check the checkbox and proceed. I lie.

I guess one good thing about picking an off the shelf license to accompany software, is that at least it's probably more likely that I'll read and try to understand it.

Noticed the 'tabs-on-demand' feature a few weeks back in Nightly. That's a great feature, that should have been in there earlier.

You can turn this behaviour off as well. I'd like to see perhaps the option to turn it off on an individual site basis. Or perhaps set a default value of off for pinned tabs (I haven't tested, the behaviour of pinned tabs.)

Title is misleading. The article discusses why learn Python instead of C# as a first language.

Missing: Python being cross platform (arguably more so than C#.)

Most sites could use pre-made systems with a minor amount of look and feel tweaks. So I think a lot of it comes down to sales/con men and snobbery. And possibly programmers getting lost down rabbit holes.

Yeah but you don't have to just sit there and twiddle your thumbs while your machine boots. You can just do something else. I'm sure we waste far more time during the day doing other things. We don't necessarily obsess over those types of time inefficiencies. If you wanted to save time you could brush your teeth in the shower etc.

While I like a fast boot, you've go to get these things a little into perspective, a minute to the desktop isn't that bad.

It didn't matter if it was Google or another company to them. What was putting them off was the thought of having to manage yet another online identity and remember the credentials. These people aren't power users. They can just about cope with doing an online search, and occasionally sign into their web mail to read and send messages. The one member who had a Google account had no problems.

I could have just emailed them the document. But it was a work in progress. I just wanted them to give it a once over.

In part this is why Google are integrating their services in the first place. Centralising signing in increases the chance of participation in their other apps.

It's a case of what you already know and anything beyond that is a barrier to entry.

It's nice to get the appropriate response when it's needed.

I once had a flat on my bike, and tried for about 20 minutes to flag down cyclists (on a busy route) that I could see had a pump (I didn't have one, but I had a new tube). Eventually someone that passed turned back rather reluctantly - then stated they'd go home and fetch me a pump as they'd experienced a good deed the night before. They left and then returned to assist when others just tried their best to ignore me. Kindness has a habit of spreading.

That's a good thing. It's really easy to get lost in comments. In some ways it would be nice to hide all comments until you make one. Though you'll probably end up with a list of the same remarks. In some ways you have that already! (People don't seem to think for themselves any more...)

I always fancied threaded comment systems, but they can spiral off topic. That's not in tiself a bad thing. Loads of comments can be hard to read, or rather take a long time to read. Perhaps a character limit - and a comment limit would make them more succinct and better all round.

Wasn't the +1 just a shortcut for those that used to just cut and paste someone else's comment to signify that they were in agreement with what the other person said anyway? Perhaps I'm wrong and it means something different to other people.

Part of me says do anything to make the YouTube comment system better. But I'm not sure if Google+ is the right way to go about it.

I wish these things were decentralised. Somewhere in my browser there should be settings to set up my 'like' service, and the same for sharing and blogging and a whole gamut of activities. Plus a simple way to switch between these, and turn them off.

I have a real hatred for the merging of Google services - and I'm not even sure why. I think it's because it just feels like the erosion of my privacy. I've become someone that uses multiple browsers. I'm logging in and out of services - just because I want to shed my persistent identity - that I probably have exposed anyway.

Not having to sign into different services with different credentials is one of the only benefits I feel I get, and yet I'm doing more logging in and out then I ever did before.

You don't need a Google account to access YouTube. You might need one to post comments, upload and access private videos - but it's not a necessity.

Actually I do think it's a big mistake and here is a simple reason why: I was wanting to share a Google document with family members a year ago. And those without Google accounts simply were not interested in getting one - despite my want for them to access the document. When I said it was quite simple to get themselves a log in they still weren't interested. They just didn't want to sign up to yet another service.

Nice to hear such enthusiasm. Sadly I lost track a little early on...

Suspend to Ram is great, but my battery dies by the morning in this mode. Plus I figure if I ever buy an SSD, hibernate will be my preferred option.

Oh well. I agree with you on this one being a bit of a show stopper, even if there are applicable workarounds.!

Developing what with? I got hacked off with issues with multiple monitors - and in the end - just went back to one monitor with multiple work spaces. I figured in the end they were nothing but a distraction.

That's useful to know.

That sounds really nasty. I wonder what the intrinsic issue is?

Well it does for Valve.

In Sri Lanka there is a pecking order. And bigger wins out.

High mass vehicles haven't got the ability to stop quickly - or get out the way like a pedestrian or cyclist so I understand that.

However I can't help but feel that we have our priorities skewed. I personally loathe motorised traffic (except for when I need it!)

I'd rather confine freight to nights. And keep traffic out of town centres. And let pedestrians and cyclists relax a little. I think we should all me mindful on the road, but it's pretty tedious being forever vigilant. Some pedestrians haven't fast reactions at all.

As a cyclist, I'm happy to use the sidewalk where the road I feel is too dangerous - but that wouldn't be at the expense of a pedestrian's right of way.

I live near the sea, and the nicest place to cycle is along the sea front away from traffic - it's glorious - but yet illegal. Yet if there were more routes like this, we might have more cyclists. In this case it's illegal as the board walk is there for pedestrians, but it's empty for a good amount of the year. I would still give a pedestrian right of way. So it's in part, attitude. Not thinking that I have right of way.

Having said that pedestrian zones are nice too.

* Inconsistent desktop UIs and administration tools

This one is just the nature of the beast of having disparate distributions.

But the others hold true. There is progress don't get me wrong, but these are issues none the less.

I'm partially referring to 2012.

I used Yast in 2000, and generally had a good experience with Suse. The distro won out for me, as I could configure Yast through an ncurses interface. You had to surrender some control to Yast, which was both a blessing and a curse.

An issue is one of consistency across the distributions - which is partly the nature of the beast of Linux. And that's why I recommend a distro with a large community to a newcomer.

That's not to say that the underlying tools aren't there, it's just the GUI tool chains are missing or could be better and more consistent.

I agree with you about the music. I used to listen to music on my push bike - but I don't now - mainly because if I turn it up to the point I can actually hear it over the din of the cars, I'd damage my ears. I could always hear the traffic over the music. Probably more so than a driver with the stereo turned up.

Other cyclists weren't that happy to see me place headphones on. Though if you mute one sense, it can heighten another.

I see plenty of cyclists that don't observe the roads properly - even signalling and veering out without looking behind - at least I use my eyes.

I'm more concerned myself about drivers that I still see daily using their mobile phones at the wheel.

A cyclist has a higher reaction time than a driver traveling at speed - something that drivers forget. That's not to say you don't need to be alert.

I actually thought that Jaywalking was a joke - until I visited America. And it was incredibly frustrating for someone from the UK to cross the roads. I really loathed it.

In my mind the rule of the road is something like:

Pedestrians>Cyclists>Scooters>Motorbikes>Cars

I always give large mass vehicles and pedestrian carriers a wide berth.

Though a little common sense can go a long way! What's the problem crossing an empty road! Or even speeding on an empty road?

It's the nanny state gone mad!