X-Message-Number: 15101
From: 
Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2000 22:37:47 EST
Subject: bar chart on site

Our webmaster, Trevina Lawrence, has fixed the bar chart problem on the new 
research page on the CI web site. The chart is not a big deal, but a nice 
instant visualization of comparative damage of one kind between different 
methods of perfusion.

Web software needs work. After I put the bar chart on the page it turned out 
to be visible to some browsers but not to others. The codes are complex, and 
different browsers sometimes don't speak the same language. What a pain!

In fact, I think every single program I have ever bought or used is full of 
bugs and comes with really, really rotten instructions, with the most obvious 
things left out.

One of the most obvious needs for user friendliness is elimination of 
"format" requirements. The program shouldn't ask me what the format is, or 
what format I want--it should tell me, or just take care of it and not bother 
me, or have a separate choice for options if I want something special. The 
programmer is paid to take care of that stuff, not me.

As one small anecdote about the occasional obtuseness of some computer 
people: AOL used to send me free disks, sometimes every week, with their 
latest version of their service--even though I WAS ALREADY A CUSTOMER WITH 
THE LATEST VERSION. You would think a computer firm, of all people, ought to 
know when someone already has what the company is wasting money trying to 
sell. I guess AOL finally figured that out, since I don't get those disks any 
more.

Yes, the computer people have worked miracles, and we shouldn't demand 
perfection. But they need feedback too.

Anyway, thanks again to Trevina for wrestling this monster into submission.

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society
httP://www.cryonics.org

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