h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

OK Zach...good idea.
Hopefully, as long as we don't mention R******* and the e********* in here it'll do fine.
Right, I'm gonna tell everyone what I'm working on now and see if anyone thinks it'll be useful.

I'm a sub-ed, so I want to edit. But, I have to pay the phone company for every second I'm online. And the only place to check my GuideML is OK is to throw it at a cgi script on the h2g2.com server and see if it works.

I don't like that - it means I have to spend a lot of time online when I shouldn't have to. So, as a programmer I want to use my knowledge to help the editing process...

This weekend I'm going to have a stab at writing a program in Delphi which will allow a user to edit their GuideML script and will do basic syntax checking. It's not gonna fix bad GuideML - just flag where it's broken. And it'll be able to 'parse' (i.e.translate) the GuideML into bog-standard HTML just like the site does now and then you'll be able to preview it in a browser off-line or save it to file.
I'm not guaranteeing that the preview will look *exactly* like the page would on h2g2 - but it'll be close enough to be useful. When you've gotten the GuideML as you'd like it you'll be able to copy it to the clipboard and then paste it into the edit form on the h2g2 site.

BTW as it'll be done in Delphi it'll only run under Windoze. If it proves useful (and I haven't even started coding it yet) then I may be able to port it to Java (which I don't know that well). When it's done I'll stick a link on my h2g2 homepage so anyone can download it.

So - any neato features for sub-eds that I haven't thought of that I could incorporate into it? Or should I forget about and just go out and get drunk instead?

Excellent idea. I wish I were clever like that. I have been having the same difficulty and would welcome this.

Cheers Ginger,
Well I'd better fill up the coffee maker then...

Sounds good. I'd have to wait for a Java version though, what with ye olde Mac sitting next to me.

Yep, me too. Cool idea though. Do we have any other Mac-using subs? If so that would make the java version more compelling. What sort of Mac do you have?

I'd love to see it. A great idea. Just please make it nice as simple a this is an old computer and doesn't like to work too hard.

8600/250. Quite nice, although I have a blue and ice g3/400 at work, which is a tad quicker!! At last my work Compaq can gather dust ...

Luckily, we use all Macs at work. At least for daily internal stuff. (We have PeeCees for other purposes.) We have a G3/400 just like that; unfortunately it's not at my desk. Here at home, though, I get to use my not fast but quite lovely 20th Anniversary model.

I like this idea too. Being in America, I don't have the same problem of paying for phone use that you UKers do. I pay a lump sum to my ISP (which happens to now be my phone company) and have 'unmetered' access. ISPs used to call it unlimited access, until people started leaving their computers connected 24/7. Eventually I hope to get a cable modem, which would be the next best thing to a T-1 line that's within my budget. It's not available in my area though.

Having a computer program that allowed me to do GuideML outside h2g2 would be ideal. Right now I just try to keep the GuideML simple, using tagging which I KNOW works, and send it to Anna hoping for the best. Even with unmetered access, I don't have time to check every single entry I make in email using h2g2. Being able to compose inside a program that will tell me when I've done something wrong, that would be very helpful.

I keep it simple at the mo as well. But then, there's not been that much call for any fancy GuideML, mostly just formatting paragraphs and the odd list or two.

OK guys I'll keep on it. As soon as I get hold of a reasonably good Java IDE I'll try and convert it. But hey, you Mac guys all have illicit copies of SoftWindows anyway don't you ???

SoftWindows? Argh! I saw it running on a machine that was a similar spec to mine and it ran at about the speed of a 486. A mate of mine has a G3 and can get it to run at a reasobale speed (maybe a 166Mhz Pentium).

If you want a PC then buy one. Emulation is fine for C64s and Spectrums, but not for PCs (or Macs for that matter - Bob only knows how badly the 68k Mac emulator for PCs runs).

LOL...I didn't even know anyone had tried Mac emulation on a PC.
How on Earth do they get a Pentium to 'Think Different'? (bad grammar TM Apple probably)

The program I'm working on should run fine on a 486. It's gonna have no graphics/sounds/animation/3D, just some text areas and big grey buttons. You open a file/paste in some text and then hit a button and when it's finished working stuff out spews it out into whatever your browser is. It might be a bit slow on a 486 but it'll get there in the end, which is all that really matters isn't it?

I gave up working on multimedia projects when I spent more time in meetings with people arguing about what colour to make a button than I had to make it actually do something when you click it

Oooh, ooh! Let me argue the grammar thing with you.

Different in "Think Different" is a noun, not an adverb indicating how to think. It's like, it's like... well, hell, I can't come up with a suitable analogy, but "Different" in this case is a thing, not an indication of how to think. Yes, people do bad grammar in slogans, but not in this one. Besides, "Think Differently" just doesn't sound good anyway.

As in the sense of...
"
Think 'different'
"
?

I find it amusing that Apple have used Einstein in their 'think different' ad campaign. It's well known that he had seven identical suits - one for each day of the week - which meant he could dress quickly in the morning and not have to worry about colour co-ordination because he wanted to concentrate his mind on 'higher' things. Meanwhile, the new Macs are rolled out in all their differently-hued glory featuring basically the same old Mac OS as ever. Is this irony intentional?

btw I am not (repeat not) wanting a PC vs Mac debate here. Macs are great in some ways, PCs are great in others and they are all a lot better than the Sinclair ZX80 I started out with.

1. Surely using bad gammar in the tech field is thinking differently!

2. Einstein *did* think different. Think of all he achieved ... and doing the "same suit thing" is different to all these people who sit there wasting time deciding what to wear. (I actually do a similar thing for work, although in a less drastic manner).

3. Irony: yes.

4. New Macs + *new* OS. It's very nice. Really. I have a G3 and a Compaq sitting in front of me right now. The G3 gets used maybe 80% odf the time now ...

5. HOW DARE YOU DISS THE ZX80

1. Oh bloody hell

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Some good points there, although I think you repeat yourself now and again! Actually, I remember a friend of mine bringing a ZX80 into school complete with that printer that printed onto silver toilet paper (at least, I think that's what it was). The scary thing is, that was in 1986, and the technology looked a little dated by then!

And in the style of a club singer:

1. I was only joking.

2. I was only joking.

3. I was only joking.

Etc.

'Knowing' me, 'knowing' you...that the best we can do?
Aha!

Dancing Tree, I couldn't help but notice you say '' Bob only knows '' are you by any chance a SubGenius? Have we had this conversation before? Oh dear my trash can is full and I've no room for my banana peel. Excuse me...