ryansan

I always thought it was good to compress first because you can more easily avoid frequency attacks. In that way I think it's better to compress then encrypt.

EDIT: That and you get to encrypt a shorter data stream. I realize frequency attacks aren't as much of a concern these days but it's just the first thing that came to my mind.

I thought the same thing when I read that. When I was thinking of "integrity" from a security perspective (as you might in an article like this) it didn't make sense. But when I thought of it more from a pure data transfer perspective between say a browser and the application it made more sense. I don't think he's saying that it's safe from mitm attacks. (At least, I hope not....)

Make sure you read the discussions below on the validity of using ad hominem arguments to undermine witness credibility. Hard to watch/read when the witness in question is an idol of yours, but still a valid approach in the court room.

I used to live in this area several years ago. It's really quite a rough area with plenty of shootings and stray bullets to go around. These stories cropped up all the time. I remember discovering at one point that the crime in Richmond was worse than Compton. Not sure if it's still true or not.

This was my reaction right away as well. But anymore when it comes to "convenience" there is certainly a price to be paid. Here, it is (at a minimum) perceived loss of privacy.

Just as I intentionally inconvenience myself to avoid places like McDonald's, I'll do the same here.

Did anyone else notice that the site and social networking properties were all put up at the same time as the post (roughly)? Good tactic for starting a business.

I agree that WordPress is a little convoluted for simple projects. However, you can get great starter themes that eliminate that complexity for you from the get-go. Like the _s starter theme or something like Bones.

I think WordPress is often the go-to platform because it's just what people hear about -- plus, it's free. My preferred CMS for websites is ExpressionEngine because it's flexible enough to make it what you want. There's no "loop" that you have to deal with over and over and there aren't a gajillion default things that you have to strip out at the outset of a project.

The trouble is that clients are afraid to try something that isn't what their neighbor is using. I often get, "Yah, but this is what I used in a past project." or "A buddy of mine used WordPress and he gets 10 million hits a day!" Getting them to pay $299 for a commercial license for EE seems like a really steep cost when they could just get WordPress for free and it's "good enough."

I can understand where he's coming from. I've always been amazed at how carried away people can get with the their web designs and applications. Several typefaces, a ginormous color palette, skeuomorphic stuff, wizzbang doo-dads, unnecessary libraries, the list goes on.

I can appreciate a well-designed and well-built site. One that pays attention to hierarchy and how the information is presented with an eye toward performance and scalability. I always find that my favorite sites are the ones that seem to take Edgar Allen Poe's advice for writing a short story. Every component has a reason for being there (i.e., it is functional). If the component or element's purpose is to be there for the sake of simply being there (it just looks cool!), then it shouldn't exist.

I suppose that's minimalism. But oftentimes, minimalism goes against what people think of in terms of "creating an experience." Most of the time when I visit a website that creates an experience, I am left with a sour taste in my mouth.

I find it interesting the author of this is so earnest about getting an image slider. I can't remember where I saw it, but it made it to the front page of HN... it was a single-purpose site demonstrating that sliders/carousels are lazy answers to information hierarchy challenges. I agree, although I've been guilty of using sliders in the past. However, I'm trying to make amends and try to come up with design solutions that don't require a carousel or slider.

I don't have any research to back up that sliders are detrimental if not just ineffective. But I do see how they can be just convenient...and not in a good way. The fast food of design? Tastes good at first but doesn't really sustain?

Sounds kind of corny, but Winged Migration is a cool movie. Not flying on the back of the bird, but it's shot in a way that is pretty awesome. Worth watching on a high def TV.

Reminds me of vaccines.

1.) Everyone stop getting vaccines!

2.) Everyone gets measles.

3.) Everyone get vaccines!

This is very encouraging and I appreciate that it doesn't set artificially high expectations for it working in humans.

And I think I can claim learning my something new for the day in finding out that something like a sonic hedgehog pathway agonist exists.

Provocative article, but as with many things, the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

I think it's cute people think social networks (in their current form) will still be around in 18 years. Technology will be in a place that probably very few of us can fathom at this current juncture. I like one of the users' comments on here that the act of registering all of these accounts for their child is akin to registering a geocities name back in the day. We all laugh at it now.

Like I said, the answer is somewhere in the middle. You don't have to do all or nothing. Just be judicious, as you would in your non-digital life (I would hope). Anything in excess can become problematic.

When my partner and I have a child some day, we'll probably be very careful about what we post online. It won't be excessive, but we won't be hermits either as unexisting can be just as odd/problematic as superexisting.

The video in this post is worth the price of admission alone. I love how ASP is the least "badass" of all...

My gut reaction to this is that it takes me back to the old days of rainbow dividers (http://rainbowdivider.com/) and animated gifs, a la Strongbad's site: http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbsite/

On the other hand, as with many web technologies, used judiciously this could be cool for interactive infographics and things like that...

Most opinion based articles tend to restate the obvious but never offer anything beyond that.

As a web manager, this is something I struggle with at my company on a regular basis. It's great to have a stance and all, but then you're just a talking head and nothing more. There needs to be a little soul behind what you're saying.

Offer solutions, not problems.

The other thing I'd add is that fluff is something I've personally struggled with when I write something. I often go back to Edgar Allan Poe's guidelines for writing short stories:

In the whole composition there should be no word written, of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is not to the one pre-established design.

Well put. Taken to the extreme, I'd hate to live in a world where everyone understood what dscacheutil does, but didn't know how to play a guitar chord.

I'd like to think that the original author is referring to what happens some of the time, not all of the time. It's the growing pains that come with rapidly advancing as a society. I can't imagine that this is such a major issue that it's tearing at our ability to move forward.

I agree. The vitriol through the majority of the article is exactly part of the reason people keep IT folks at arms length. I can appreciate the level of frustration, but the litany of "n00b" anecdotes is a bit absurd.

The other thing that kills me is that there will always be layers of abstraction. This was especially apparent to me when he rattles off a few programming languages part way through:

...PHP, HTML, JavaScript and Haskell

There's a chain (which is often two-way, I've found): The web content manager that never bothers to learn jQuery. The jQuery developer that never bothers to learn JavaScript. The JavaScript developer that never bothers to learn PHP. The PHP developer that never bothers to learn C. The C developer that never bothers to learn Assembly.

I do appreciate that he actually offers solutions at the end in the form of some fairly vague calls to action, instead of whining 100% of the time. I just don't care much for the delivery.

(However, you have to admit that it probably got a lot of attention as a result of the delivery...kudos for that, I suppose.)