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The LangaList
2000-05-01 A Free Email Newsletter from Fred
Langa
(2000-May-1)
That Helps You Get More From Your Hardware,
Software, and Time Online
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Over on the WinMag.Com site (http://content.techweb.com/winmag/),
the current "Explorer" discussion centers on Netscape 6, and the tests
I ran on the new preview version of this browser. I reported my own somewhat
disappointing results with N6 tests; it feels a lot more like an early alpha to
me, rather than a beta version that's already more than two years late. Some readers disagree with me,
and think I'm being way too harsh. Others agree. Take reader Krzysztof Nalecki,
for example: Writing from Poland, he says he
loaded N6 and IE on Windows 2000 and looked to see what resources each consumed.
(This was something I didn't do.) He found that used fewer CPU
resources---a good thing--- but used almost twice as much memory as IE, and
generated almost five times as many page faults. Clearly, at best, this suggests
there's a huge amount of refinement and clean-up needed before N6 will be ready.
"Beta" indeed. But your mileage may vary: Come
get the full details, and then join in the discussion via the link on the front
page of http://content.techweb.com/winmag/. Click to
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We recently discussed ways to
make your web site accessible to the visually impaired. (See http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-04-20.htm#5)
Several readers pointed out that the same improvements also help surfers using
text-only web browsers, including some of the new hand-held PCs. And there's more. Reader Paul
Rudolf writes: Hi Fred. Picture a web page with
2 images side-by-side. On the left is an image of two cows, and on the right is
an image of a skydiver over a lake. Using the method of describing the image
with the "alt" attribute, a descriptive addition would be simply
"Two Cows" for the first image and "Skydiving over a lake"
for the second. Using a text browser, the text "Two Cows Skydiving over a
lake" would not only be displayed on the screen in place of the images, but
would be what the screen reader (for a text based browser) would
"speak" to the user. Not very descriptive. The use of the
"longdescription" attribute and related "d" tag and
"longdescriptionfile" leads to a more understandable page and fits the
W3C recommendations, used as standards by most manufacturers of "screen
reader devices".... Another misuse of the
"alt" attribute is to describe the graphics used in conjunction with
text along side of navigation buttons. Sometimes using alt="" or
alt="*" will assist understanding these images when viewed with a text
browser. According to the HTML 4.0 specification, the "alt" attribute
is a required attribute of the img tag. Once again, without a solid set of
standards, many methods exist to accomplish similar tasks and view similar
results. BTW, I submitted...[the]
langa.com home pages to http://www.cast.org/bobby
for accessibility analysis. Your page didn't do so well. :( When you get to
doing a feature article on accessibility, The Center for Applied Technology
(cast.org) would be a great place to go for many answers. Thanks, Paul. I've tried
"Bobby" in the past but found it very fussy; it complains about many
items that actually aren't wrong. Changing these "errors" often just
involves things like changing the *placement* of an Alt text within a tag, for
example; and the placement doesn't matter at all---except to Bobby. Still, it's
a great idea actually to check your web pages for accessibility, and not simply
to assume they're OK. Bobby is useful for this, although you need to go through
the results very carefully to see which are real problems and which are false
alarms. I hope to "re-Bobby" the Langa.Com site soon Reader Bruce Hadley adds: Software/Web
accessibility was the lead in the 4/24 issue of Software Success, a weekly
newsletter for software entrepreneurs. ( http://www.softwaresuccess.com
)The story lists 10 common mistakes programmers/designers make, along with some
great resources they can use. Another example, that
fits in with your "PC" (political correctness) comments about
Microsoft: One of the very best resources on this topic is Microsoft. Their site
(http://www.microsoft.com/enable)
offers a wealth of tips, documents, and examples, as well as a superb (and free)
documentary video about disabled people winning with technology. Thanks Bruce, and all who wrote
in. Click to
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Reader Anibal Ramos writes,
inimitably: hey fred! first of all: the
newsletter kicks ***! That is no news to u
hugh? I have a cool tip for
windows 2000 (i don't know if it works under w98 or below). I usually use the
CTRL + ESC to open de start menu. Today without wanting to do it I press SHIFT -
CTRL + ESC. What happened? the task manager windows popped up. Very cool tip
don't u think?. Keep the kick *** job
man! Thanks for your, um, enthusiasm,
Anibal. 8-) Control-Esc does work in Win9x,
and in fact is a nice way to get to the Start Menu and Task Bar even if they're
completely obscured by a full-screen window. But Shift-Control-Esc doesn't bring
up the Task Manager, alas; it also brings up the Start Menu. Click to
email this item to a friend Interesting reader comments
resulting from the current Byte "Monitor" column and discussion on
"Redefining 'Human.'" The column looks at some of the
issues that arise from machine intelligence and other attributes that will one
day make computer intellects virtually (or perhaps totally) indistinguishable
from naturally-born human intellects. At that point, will we have to broaden the
definition of "human" to include machine intelligences? And what about man/machine
hybrids? Don't laugh--- medical technology already provides glasses, hearing
aids, prosthetics of all sorts, artificial hips, hearts, blood vessels, valves,
pacemakers, insulin pumps, and so on. There's a growing number of deaf people
being fitted with computerized cochlear implants that bypass their
nonfunctioning biological parts; and some blind people have been fitted with
cameras and direct brain implants that can bring them a limited form of vision. At some point sometime not too
far off, some person will have a body that's 51% non-natural parts. Will that
person suddenly no longer be "human?" What if he or she is 75%
manufactured parts? 90%? 99%? Does our humanness depend on our biology, or is it
something else, something that really doesn't require any biology at all? And if
the biology really doesn't matter, then doesn't that prove that machine-based
intelligences can be "human?" Please read the column at http://www.byte.com
and then join the discussion in the Byte Newsgroups either by clicking to http://www.byte.com/nntp/monitor
, or by using your newsreader to news.cmpnet.com, and from there to
cmpnet.byte.monitor. Join in! Click to
email this item to a friend Speaking of being "only
human," the discussion of how to bypass problematic applications that
auto-start (and maybe foul up your PC when they do) in http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-04-20.htm#2
missed a step--- my apologies if this caused you trouble. Where the instructions said to
navigate to "START/PROGRAMS/ACCESSORIES/SYSTEM
TOOLS/SYSTEM INFORMATION/TOOLS/SYSTEM CONFIGURATION UTILITY/STARTUP(TAB)" Thanks to reader J. Michael
Mollohan for being first to catch and correct this error! Click to
email this item to a friend The Recommend-it
site used to give away Palm III organizers as an incentive to use their service;
but now they've upped the ante--- way, way up! If you think the
LangaList is a worthwhile read, just use the following link to recommend the
LangaList to a friend. Your friend just may find a new source of useful
information; I just may gain a new subscriber; and you just may win $10,000 or
other prizes from the folks at "Recommend-It:" http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#1 Or, win a copy of
"Poor Richard's E-Mail Publishing: Creating Newsletters, Bulletins,
Discussion Groups and Other Powerful Communications Tools." This book has
been described as "An excellent, straightforward manual on email
publishing, banner ads, driving traffic and especially ethics." (Full
details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2 Either way, thank
you, and good luck! Click to
email this item to a friend Hundreds of sites now have
"Loaded The Code." Do you have a home page or website? (It doesn't
matter what size.) Please click on over to http://www.langa.com/code.htm,
and maybe you can join the growing crowd! And check out http://www.langa.com/readersites.htm,
which is a permanent repository for "code loader" pages. It's kinda
fun to see what your fellow readers are up to! There's even a "Reader Site
Roulette" link that shows you a new Reader Site with every click! Speaking of which: Here's another
eclectic selection of reader sites--- some professional, some very personal: Click to
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I've written a lot about
adjusting your "RWIN" and "MTU" settings (search http://www.langa.com
for either of those terms, for example). Last week, reader Brian Fields
mentioned another freeware app that I hadn't heard of before: It is a freeware app
from the gentleman who originally wrote NetLightning (At the time, it was a
freeware app in a world where people where charging for programs that basically
just made modifications to the registry - At that time, there was no EasyMTU,
etc...) - He revamped it and released it as Netlocity, and it's available at
www.netlocity.net Thanks, Brian. One caution---
Netlocity wants to use your Hosts file, and that can sometimes cause its own set
of problems (see http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-04-03.htm#5)
. Click to
email this item to a friend Reader Richard Cartwright sends
along these supposedly real newspaper ads. I hope they are real--- some of them
are wonderful. 8-) FREE YORKSHIRE
TERRIER. 8 YEARS OLD. HATEFUL LITTLE DOG. FREE PUPPIES: 1/2
COCKER SPANIEL -1/2 SNEAKY NEIGHBOR'S DOG FREE PUPPIES...PART
GERMAN SHEPHERD - PART STUPID DOG FOUND: DIRTY WHITE
DOG. LOOKS LIKE A RAT... BEEN OUT AWHILE.. BETTER BE REWARD. 1 MAN, 7 WOMEN HOT
TUB -- $850/offer COWS, CALVES NEVER
BRED... ALSO 1 GAY BULL FOR SALE. GEORGIA PEACHES
CALIFORNIA GROWN - 89 cents lb. JOINING NUDIST
COLONY! MUST SELL WASHER & DRYER $300. FOR SALE BY OWNER:
Complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica. 45 volumes. Excellent condition.
$1,000.00 or best offer. No longer needed. Got married last weekend. Wife knows
everything. Click to
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Computer
Problems? Get
answers from some of the same sources Fred uses Information/Order
(and discounts!) here: http://www.langa.com/books.htm --------------( the above is an
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See you next issue! Best, (Please recommend
the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win $10,000!I) An easier-to read formatted HTML version is
available in the "what's new" section of http://www.langa.com.
(The HTML version of each issue normally is available by 9AM EST [GMT-5] of the
issue date.) All past LangaList issues are also available via the same link. Why are you getting this newsletter? There are
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list signup page) so if you're getting this newsletter; your name came to me
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the advertisers: Langa Consulting LLC will never knowingly accept
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of or for the products, companies or services mentioned in the ads. Disclaimer:
(Please see full disclaimer here: http://www.langa.com/legal.htm.)
Abbreviated version: The tips and other information given in the newsletter are
researched and are believed to be accurate, but we cannot and do not guarantee
that all the information here will work on all systems, for all users, all the
time. All information herein is offered as-is and without warranty of any kind.
Neither Langa Consulting LLC, nor its employees nor contributors are responsible for
any loss, injury, or damage, direct or consequential, resulting from application
of any information presented here. This newsletter is a free service of Langa Consulting LLC and is Copyright © 2000 Langa Consulting LLC. All rights reserved.
1) Readers Add Their Own Netscape 6.0
Torture Tests
http://www.langa.com/sendit5.htm
return to top of page2)
More on Site Accessibility
http://www.langa.com/sendit5.htm
return to top of page3)
Nifty Shortcut
http://www.langa.com/sendit5.htm
Return to top of page4)
It's "Only Human"
http://www.langa.com/sendit5.htm
return to top of page5)
Oops---Skipped A Step!
"START/PROGRAMS/ACCESSORIES/SYSTEM TOOLS/SYSTEM
INFORMATION/TOOLS/STARTUP" it should have said,
http://www.langa.com/sendit5.htm
return to top of page6)
Win $10 Grand!
http://www.langa.com/sendit5.htm
return to top of page7)
They Loaded The Code
http://www.gimme-shelter.net/
http://www.primenet.com/~tfcox/
http://www.affiliaterewards.com/
http://www.lovecars.com/corvettecorner/
http://greenbelt.com/nancyallen/
http://skybusiness.com/star_embroidery/
http://members.tripod.com/~wjmr/mousepad.html
http://www.earthcare.com.au/
http://www.anarbfbt.com/
http://owerr.tripod.com/
http://207.198.67.111/
http://www.icehouse.net/lowman/
http://www.langa.com/sendit5.htm
return to top of page
over 1,000,000 times a month!8)
Another "RWIN/MTU" Freeware Tool
http://www.langa.com/sendit5.htm
return to top of page9)
Just For Grins
http://www.langa.com/sendit5.htm
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---and also get a full 20% discount in the process!
Fred
(fred@langa.com)
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