Comments on: New Support Form http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/ Information about DreamHost Services Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:21:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Asbjørn Ulsberg http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-35109 Asbjørn Ulsberg Fri, 11 May 2007 23:36:26 +0000 http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-35109 Ah, but of course! Ah, but of course!

]]> By: Mike http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-35088 Mike Fri, 11 May 2007 19:59:44 +0000 http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-35088 You're both wrong. It's obvious that Mousee was talking about some sort of coffee beverage when he said Java. You’re both wrong. It’s obvious that Mousee was talking about some sort of coffee beverage when he said Java.

]]> By: Mousee http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34867 Mousee Thu, 10 May 2007 22:17:23 +0000 http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34867 It should have already been quite obvious I was refering to javascript, I was just too lazy to type out "javascript". But feel free to nitpick words all you wish. It should have already been quite obvious I was refering to javascript, I was just too lazy to type out “javascript”.
But feel free to nitpick words all you wish.

]]> By: Asbjørn Ulsberg http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34861 Asbjørn Ulsberg Thu, 10 May 2007 21:02:59 +0000 http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34861 @Mousee: It has nothing to do with politically correctness. Saying "Java" while meaning "JavaScript" is like saying ".NET" while meaning "TCL". And, most current cellphones don't have fully JavaScript-capable browsers, at least not in the DOM-part which script libraries like Prototype use extensively. Nonetheless, requiring JavaScript (even if it isn't broken) is a bad practice. @Mousee: It has nothing to do with politically correctness. Saying “Java” while meaning “JavaScript” is like saying “.NET” while meaning “TCL”. And, most current cellphones don’t have fully JavaScript-capable browsers, at least not in the DOM-part which script libraries like Prototype use extensively. Nonetheless, requiring JavaScript (even if it isn’t broken) is a bad practice.

]]> By: Mousee http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34796 Mousee Thu, 10 May 2007 13:04:53 +0000 http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34796 @Asbjørn Ulsberg - Sorry, I should have been more politically correct in specifying *java-script* and not just the generic "java" phrase, despite the fact that most current cellphones commonly support both ;) @Asbjørn Ulsberg - Sorry, I should have been more politically correct in specifying *java-script* and not just the generic “java” phrase, despite the fact that most current cellphones commonly support both ;)

]]> By: Asbjørn Ulsberg http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34639 Asbjørn Ulsberg Wed, 09 May 2007 22:04:42 +0000 http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34639 I should probably have reloaded the page before I replied, because the entries I read before replying was a bit stale. Anyhoo, much what I write in my reply still aplies. Not having fallback functionality sucks. I mean, the functionality is already there on the server, the difference is that it's only callable through AJAX and not by submitting the form. By encapsulating the server-functionality appropriately, it should be callable by both AJAX and by the form submission. Please fix this. Fixing this makes any further "improvements" to the form such that JavaScript at least can be disabled and thus make the form work, however slow it might be. A slow and boring Web 1.0 form that actually submits the form with an HTTP POST and relaods the page is much better than a cool and snappy Web 2.0 form that does exactly zip, because the JavaScript involved doesn't work for whatever reason. I think the new form looks good and I wouldn't mind using it, but please add fallback functionality! I should probably have reloaded the page before I replied, because the entries I read before replying was a bit stale. Anyhoo, much what I write in my reply still aplies. Not having fallback functionality sucks. I mean, the functionality is already there on the server, the difference is that it’s only callable through AJAX and not by submitting the form. By encapsulating the server-functionality appropriately, it should be callable by both AJAX and by the form submission. Please fix this.

Fixing this makes any further “improvements” to the form such that JavaScript at least can be disabled and thus make the form work, however slow it might be. A slow and boring Web 1.0 form that actually submits the form with an HTTP POST and relaods the page is much better than a cool and snappy Web 2.0 form that does exactly zip, because the JavaScript involved doesn’t work for whatever reason.

I think the new form looks good and I wouldn’t mind using it, but please add fallback functionality!

]]> By: Asbjørn Ulsberg http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34637 Asbjørn Ulsberg Wed, 09 May 2007 21:57:28 +0000 http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34637 @Mousee: Java and JavaScript are two infatomably different and completely unrelated technolgies. Java is a compiled langauge that runs on a Java framework, Java 2 ME most commonly on cellular phones. JavaScript, however, requires browser support, and even though the mobile phone supports Java, doesn't mean the web browser installed on it supports JavaScript. Opera Mini is a web browser written in Java that supports most web pages, but it hasn't got JavaScript capabilities and thus can't work with any web pages (like the new DreamHost support form) that requires JavaScript. Requiring JavaScript is in the first place completely wrong, since you can't guarantee its support. HTML, however, is pretty well supported across all browsers, operating systems, platforms and whatnot, so adding JavaScript as an optional addon to existing HTML functionality is always okay. Requiring it, though, on top of creating something that only works in some browsers, is completely unacceptable, at least for such an important feature as the support form. @Mousee: Java and JavaScript are two infatomably different and completely unrelated technolgies. Java is a compiled langauge that runs on a Java framework, Java 2 ME most commonly on cellular phones. JavaScript, however, requires browser support, and even though the mobile phone supports Java, doesn’t mean the web browser installed on it supports JavaScript. Opera Mini is a web browser written in Java that supports most web pages, but it hasn’t got JavaScript capabilities and thus can’t work with any web pages (like the new DreamHost support form) that requires JavaScript.

Requiring JavaScript is in the first place completely wrong, since you can’t guarantee its support. HTML, however, is pretty well supported across all browsers, operating systems, platforms and whatnot, so adding JavaScript as an optional addon to existing HTML functionality is always okay. Requiring it, though, on top of creating something that only works in some browsers, is completely unacceptable, at least for such an important feature as the support form.

]]> By: Gene Steinberg http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34614 Gene Steinberg Wed, 09 May 2007 18:12:18 +0000 http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34614 <blockquote>Not to be combative, but the reality is that 99.99% of our panel users have javascript. We did research this before making it a requirement. Don’t worry though, a non-JS alternate will be forthcoming. </blockquote> I don't mind being combative, Pete :) My feeling is that anyone using an up-to-date system (and you can't imagine how many hosts out there use ancient versions of PHP, etc.), ought to have an up-to-date browser with all the bells and whistles to test sites on. And use as many browsers as possible. I live in both the Mac OS X and Windows XP/Vista environments to make sure all my stuff works properly. So Javascript's the least of it. Peace, Gene

Not to be combative, but the reality is that 99.99% of our panel users have javascript. We did research this before making it a requirement. Don’t worry though, a non-JS alternate will be forthcoming.

I don’t mind being combative, Pete :)

My feeling is that anyone using an up-to-date system (and you can’t imagine how many hosts out there use ancient versions of PHP, etc.), ought to have an up-to-date browser with all the bells and whistles to test sites on. And use as many browsers as possible. I live in both the Mac OS X and Windows XP/Vista environments to make sure all my stuff works properly. So Javascript’s the least of it.

Peace,
Gene

]]> By: michael http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34603 michael Wed, 09 May 2007 17:26:30 +0000 http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34603 @Greg: please post here with what domain you host with DreamHost. What the hell does 'kids games' even mean? heh. you mean posting like a nintendo power fan boy on playstation blogs? @Greg: please post here with what domain you host with DreamHost. What the hell does ‘kids games’ even mean? heh. you mean posting like a nintendo power fan boy on playstation blogs?

]]> By: why http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34550 why Wed, 09 May 2007 12:15:14 +0000 http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/05/07/new-support-form/#comment-34550 Pete - SWEET! Thanks for hearing us. Pete - SWEET! Thanks for hearing us.

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