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

Have you asked them about it lately?

Not "them". I pointed out the bugs to Jim Lynn (though of course that was invisibly too!). They appear to be fixed now.

Not entirely. When you enter the hallowed portals of hootoo, you are obliged to pass through Brunel hell before switching to gorgeous Goo.

zdt

Funny you should mention that, Terri. I have used Alabaster for as long as I can remember, but for the past week, every time I log back into h2g2, I'm set to Brunel. Gawd, I hate Brunel.

Whereas I think alabaster is the most offensive skin. Goo is pretty but too graphics heavy for slow servers and connections. Brunel is medium-ugly but functional (so I use it). I *would* prefer plain but it lacks some things.

Brunel doesn't appear to offer the use of frames, though, and I prefer to use them.

Goo would be my first choice if it didn't take so long to load. I think I might have tried plain and also found it lacking.

If Brunel worked with frames I'd probably be more likely to use it.

Ah, they were trying to phase out frames though. (Somewhere there's a conversation with Jim Lynn about it but without search working ...)

Frames? What frames?

Oh, gawd, I'll never be able to follow a conversation without frames... I'll have to find that thread. Thanks for letting me know they're planning to do away with them, SEF.

It seems already to have been postponed several years now though - possibly because of all the outcry of the staff-pet goo-users at the time (and possibly because the BBC simply hasn't got round to it).

What are frames?

"Frames" is an HTML thing. It means partitioning of the window area in various ways into independently loaded areas. Some sites use frames all the time - eg the outer menu controlling what's displayed on the inner section without the URL changing (which means you can't link to it the way you view it).

On h2g2, the oldest skin (classic = goo) had the option to view the site flat or with frames. That has caused some upgrade problems ever since. Although brunel looks to have frames (in the sense of having panels at the top, sides and bottom) they aren't kept in separate pages for the browser to load. They are really just TABLE cells.

Just read your posting about the ban on livejournal. Its so offensive and archaic to have a problem with womans breasts. I can't post there as it thinks I am a spam robot. I was thinking of setting up an account just to post, but now it seems people might be leaving there now as well.

Do you intend staying? If yes then I will set up an account.

I intend staying there for a few months, at least. But, Kaz, don't you get given a list of numbers and letters to type into a box to prove you're not a robot? That's what I used to get before I joined, and it seemed to work fine.

I've sort of taken back what I said about the ban on breastfeeding pictures; although the premise is completely ridiculous, LJ (unlike h2g2) really does belong to the people running it, so they're entitled to ban whatever suits their whim.

The attitude to breastfeeding isn't even archaic, come to that: I remember seeing nursing mothers al over the place in the Seventies, and nobody batted an eyelid.

My local council is currently running a scheme whereby local businesses (like restaurants etc.) that support breastfeeding on their premises will be rewarded. I think it's great.

I really don't get what's so terrible about breast-feeding in public - other than it making newly weaned toddlers jealous. After all, people are allowed to do more obviously offensive things which, while frowned on to a greater or lesser degree, don't generally get them banned (eg combing their hair, nose-picking, coughing, releasing gas in either direction and even spitting - the one most likely to get an individual banned unless they are backroom staff!).

True, people getting upset about breast-feeding is a new thing, it just seems like archaic thinking to me. In the past though people were sensible because it was common-place and everyone had been there. It seems to be connected with the new rise in evangelical christianity, they are ashamed of many natural things it seems.

There was a nursing mothers protest outside the owners of Livejournals offices, I don't know what happened though.

When I last tried to post I had the letter/number thing to type three times and each time it said I was a spam robot so I gave up.

It picks too many things that look the same in its rubbish font(s). Eg I (upper-case i), l (lower-case L) and 1 (numeral) - especially with added distortion.

Yes, they don't make it easy, dammit. I wonder if my writing to them would make a difference. Do you think it's something that they could adjust easily?

(The robot-spotter, that is, not the breastfeeding.)