who wants gmail?

entropicdecay · Post by **entropicdecay** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 18:31

Retodon8 wrote: If you've just disabled images for some reason, or are using a text-only browser (Telnet session?) and are reading the actual text, I suppose a quick ":)" would be easier on the eyes, but that's not what the "alt" attribute was invented for.

Is it possible to access the PCKF via telnet? How?

Malvineous · Post by **Malvineous** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 22:28

You need to telnet into a PC/server with a text browser and run it there

It does make much more sense when you're using a text browser, but if you look at all the FAQ/Login icons at the top they really shouldn't have alt text.

ckguy · Post by **ckguy** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 2:37

KeenRush wrote:There's a "Preview" button that I always use, it's a good way to see whether one has quoted correctly or not.

Yeah, I usually preview my posts before I make them. Not all the time, though, because it's fairly easy (and non-embarrassing) to edit them afterwards. Unlike in wikis, where every single submission is recorded, and everyone can check to see what silly typos you made, and how many edits it took to fix all of them.

Commander Spleen · Post by **Commander Spleen** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 3:20

There's a "Preview" button that I always use, it's a good way to see whether one has quoted correctly or not. Wink

True, though the preview button isn't necessary to see I've disquoted that.

What a fascinating off-topic rant this has become.

ckguy · Post by **ckguy** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 17:55

Like I said,

Not threadjacked.

Spleenie wrote:What a fascinating off-topic rant this has become.

My sarcasm detector is unable to analyze this comment.

Post by **KeenRush** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 20:12

Infinite link loop.

Well, one could say this topic was doomed from the start...

entropicdecay · Post by **entropicdecay** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 23:53

Malvineous wrote:You need to telnet into a PC/server with a text browser and run it there

It does make much more sense when you're using a text browser, but if you look at all the FAQ/Login icons at the top they really shouldn't have alt text.

Interesting... yeah, the alt text is the same as the regular text.

Retodon8 · Post by **Retodon8** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:35

Retodon8 wrote:[...]"Confused" said out loud would be much better than "Colon confused", or whatever it would end up like.[...]

Uhm, I though I was replying to a request about changing alt attributes for emoticons, but now it seems that I didn't.
Now I'm confused about whether I was seeing things at the time I wrote that, or if I'm (not) seeing things right now.
Maybe I just quoted the wrong post, and the post I thought existed, does exist, just elsewhere.
(I tend to open multiple threads in multiple Firefox tabs simultaneously.)

Commander Spleen wrote:That and I have a distrust of automated processes.

I like those kinds of things, until they stop working as they should.
I remember one time I realized I was swallowing, and started paying attention to it.
Normally you constantly produce saliva and you automatically swallow it (multiple litres per day I seem to recall).
That process broke, and I had to keep manually swallowing, which turned out to be hard somehow, like upcoming sneezes who make you... start to... and... then finally decide not to go through with it after all.
It annoyed me until I finally got distracted and forgot about it.

Commander Spleen · Post by **Commander Spleen** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 4:12

Retodon8 wrote:I though I was replying to a request about changing alt attributes for emoticons

That would've been my post earlier on. I'm not sure what you were getting at with the "colon confused" thing. That emoticon would simply show up as : confused (minus the space) and thus copy into another post perfectly. What I meant is that having : ) instead of Happy, for example, would be preferable. I still think it would in the text-browser context, too... a text emoticon makes more sense than 'Happy' randomly stamped at the end of a sentence.

Deton8or wrote:I remember one time I realized I was swallowing, and started paying attention to it.

I've had that happen a few times with breathing. I was able to exhale and go what seemed much too log without the urge to breathe, so I would forced a breath just to be safe. (Hmm, seems I can still do that, but I'm not willing to test how long I can go.) One time this occurred when I was trying to sleep. I couldn't distract my mind from it, so I got up and watched some television for a while.

Actually, I've since developed a useful habit of recognising my shallow breathing and override it with some deeper breaths, which helps out on many levels.

Post by **KeenRush** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:26

That happens to me once in a while, that with breathing. Or well, I can stop it anytime I want, and making it automatical again requires attention focused elsewhere, which also is not that easy.

Retodon8 · Post by **Retodon8** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 15:55

Commander Spleen wrote:That would've been my post earlier on. I'm not sure what you were getting at with the "colon confused" thing. That emoticon would simply show up as : confused (minus the space) and thus copy into another post perfectly. What I meant is that having : ) instead of Happy, for example, would be preferable. I still think it would in the text-browser context, too... a text emoticon makes more sense than 'Happy' randomly stamped at the end of a sentence.

Ah, I see now, I was basically replying to two of your posts, but you wrote a different post inbetween, which caused me to not look far back enough to read the full story again.
At least now I know it was last time I was confused, not the first time.

I was referring to text-to-speech programs reading things like ":" out loud as "colon" and stuff like that.
To be honest I'm not very familiar with browsers that work like this, as my eyes work well enough, but that's an important reason for the alt attribute.
I don't think anybody seriously uses text browsers anymore, and there aren't many reasons to turn off images.
So anyway, if you're blind and you hear emoticons "read" out loud, it won't make any sense.
Well, after a while I'm sure you'd get used to it, but the alt attribute is supposed to contain readable text.
As mentioned, you're not "supposed to" manually copy text, but use the quote feature instead, which properly copies emoticons.

I do edit automated quotes in order to stop quote pyramids, split up posts and reply to them in parts, removed text irrelevant to what I'm replying to, change the actual quote to stuff I copied from a website and change the author's name to the website's name (easier than looking up the quote BBcode

), stuff like that.

Jimage wrote:I've had that happen a few times with breathing. I was able to exhale and go what seemed much too log without the urge to breathe, so I would forced a breath just to be safe. (Hmm, seems I can still do that, but I'm not willing to test how long I can go.) One time this occurred when I was trying to sleep. I couldn't distract my mind from it, so I got up and watched some television for a while.

Actually, I've since developed a useful habit of recognising my shallow breathing and override it with some deeper breaths, which helps out on many levels.

I think it's possible to learn breathing more deeply without thinking by just keeping on doing that.
If I hold my breath, I can't stop my breathing reflex, and just have to breathe again eventually.
I know pearl divers manage to learn to stop that reflex, so they can stay underwater longer.