23.7.04
FUCK
I had a nice, long post about the continuing ails of the D.C. Metro system, and then this POS froze up. All you get now is a link to an article about a recent fiasco -- a mere cog in my great critique of a system I once loved. I'll talk more about SmarTrip later, if you're lucky.
Meanwhile, in regards to web browsers, someone (Mozilla perhaps?) should make a browser that recognizes when the user is on a page with a large field full of text (e.g., a blog interface, a web-based email composition, etc.) and auto-saves whatever the user is typing. Similarly, on a long form with many fields (e.g., any kind of retail site) the browser would recall your entries. Then, if the browser locks up or the computer crashes, you are just fine. Sure, it would take up some space in the cache, or somewhere else, but it would encourage people to use your software. The browser could even go back to the page it abandoned and auto-complete the form.
Which reminds me of an article I read in the Atlantic a couple years ago. It was by a security expert who had a rather simple yet insightful commentary about security systems -- not like the nitty-gritty, but the aggregate method for preventing x (terrorism in this case). Security systems are designed to succeed, but they also need to be designed to fail. Your success shouldn't be measured in terms of how well you do when things go well (they're supposed to); your success should be measured in how well you do when things go wrong.
Meanwhile, in regards to web browsers, someone (Mozilla perhaps?) should make a browser that recognizes when the user is on a page with a large field full of text (e.g., a blog interface, a web-based email composition, etc.) and auto-saves whatever the user is typing. Similarly, on a long form with many fields (e.g., any kind of retail site) the browser would recall your entries. Then, if the browser locks up or the computer crashes, you are just fine. Sure, it would take up some space in the cache, or somewhere else, but it would encourage people to use your software. The browser could even go back to the page it abandoned and auto-complete the form.
Which reminds me of an article I read in the Atlantic a couple years ago. It was by a security expert who had a rather simple yet insightful commentary about security systems -- not like the nitty-gritty, but the aggregate method for preventing x (terrorism in this case). Security systems are designed to succeed, but they also need to be designed to fail. Your success shouldn't be measured in terms of how well you do when things go well (they're supposed to); your success should be measured in how well you do when things go wrong.
perma-linky posted by degs : 10:48
