MetaFilter posts tagged with standards

Why do we have an IMG element?

chunking express — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:58:25 -0800

Operation Pancake

divabat — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:03:16 -0800

An expose of non-vegan ingredients in pancakes at LA Vegan Thai inspired the QuarryGirl.Com writers to conduct their own extremely thorough investigation of LA vegan restaurants, testing their meals for traces of casein, egg, and shellfish. Over $1000 and a chain of interviews up to Taiwan later, they find that half the restaurants aren't as vegan as they claim, with half registering Positive or High and one registering Overload. Some restaurants vowed to conduct their own tests or requested further assistance; one banned them from the establishment.

New US Fuel Economy Plan: Win, Lose, or Draw?

filthy light thief — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:31:05 -0800

Car companies were facing a variety of efficiency and emission standards throughout the United States, from the Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, On May 19th, and then an even stricter emission standard from California and 13 other states (plus DC). On May 19th, President Obama announced nation-wide new vehicle fuel efficiency standards for new cars and trucks through 2016. The goal is to rapidly increase fuel efficiency,without compromising safety, by an average of 5, culminating in 39 MPG for cars and 30 MPG for light trucks. Currently, no auto makers are meet the final standards, though some are closer than others. Car enthusiasts say this is the end of "fun cars," and point out air conditioning improvement short-cuts that would achieve the required goals. Environmentalists say this won't change enough. The EPA says the unified standard is welcomed by the auto manufacturers because it provides regulatory certainty and predictability and includes flexibilities that will significantly reduce the cost of compliance (partially due to the fuel efficiency score covering an automaker’s entire fleet). Other people point out though the new standards are better than the old ones, the auto fuel economy goal was reachable a decade ago, and still SUVs are classified as light trucks. Then again, why wait for new standards when you can start hypermiling today? It's not limited to hybrids.

The State of the Web 2008

netbros — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 04:25:52 -0800

The State of the Web 2008 is a report from Web Directions that includes details and analysis of all the responses to over 50 questions covering technologies, techniques, philosophies and practices that today’s web professionals employ. The survey was open for just under 3 weeks, from December 1st to 20th 2008. In total, over 1200 designers and developers from around the world responded to the survey. Respondents were likely to be self-educating, “early adopters” who keep abreast of developments in their field. Here are the tabular results. In short, what did the survey find? Some quite surprising results include:

just how few of the respondents use any form of Internet Explorer for their day to day web use (with only 3 out of over 1200 respondents using IE8), and similarly how few use Google Chrome as their primary browser, despite the splash the launch of that browser recently
nearly half of respondents use Mac OS X as their primary operating system, and only 10% use Windows Vista
less than a third of respondents test their web sites with Internet Explorer 8 (while Mobile Safari comes in at 20%, and Chrome at 40%)

There’s also a great deal of interest in terms of the nitty-gritty of web design philosophy and practice, from the high percentage of respondents who use JavaScript (around 95%), to the very small uptake of Silverlight (around 2% of all respondents) to the very high percentage of database driven sites (96%), overwhelmingly run on open source databases (over 80%). The number of responses, 1234 total, and the results themselves definitely provide both food for thought, and in many cases, cause for optimism that web development best practices are becoming more widely adopted over time. Web Directions conducts two major conferences annually in Sydney, Australia and Vancouver, Canada, and covers the full range of interests for web professionals - web design, front-end and and back-end development, information architecture, interaction design, accessibility, data visualization and much more. Their more focused conferences home in on specific areas and segments, as seen from their podcasts, slides, and other presentation materials.

The Free Site Validator

sciurus — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:13:23 -0800

The Free Site Validator is for all y'all web designers who are tired of putting each and every page through the W3C Markup Validation Service. Enter the URL you'd like checked, start the report and you'll soon have every page of the site examined for valid markup and link rot. It also uses OpenID so you might already have an account! [via 456 Berea Street] The site runs a bit slow at the moment due to heavy traffic.

Standards fail.

jaduncan — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 07:26:12 -0800

Only 4.3% of the web validates. Opera have finished a scan and validation check of the net using their new MAMA spider and have got an extremely interesting dataset. Did you check your website today?

The new Nazi army: How the U.S. military is allowing the far-right to join its ranks.

hortense — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:11:28 -0800

Nazis in the military is dedicated to the investigative project undertaken by journalist Matthew Kennard while studying for a MS in Investigative Journalism at Columbia University in New York. It was completed over six months and explores the increasingly liberal attitude of the U.S. military to neo-Nazis and white supremacists serving in the armed forces. via He also wrote about GOP teens at the convention, Chomsky approves. Chuck Mertz in depth interview(mp3) third hour

Warning: this FPP may cause seizures.

loiseau — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 23:06:45 -0800

The new video, "Run", from R&B group Gnarls Barkley (best known for their ultra-popular and painfully ubitquitous 2006 hit song "Crazy") has been banned from MTV for failing the Harding Test, a set of criteria determining the likelihood of video material triggering seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy (PSE), approximately 1 in 6000 people^*. The video is now circulating online. [Watch at your own risk. May cause seizures.] The HardingFPA Flash and Pattern Analyser, as it's properly known, is a UK-developed computer hardware and software system that analyses video frame-by-frame to ensure that it does not contain [pdf 68k] flickering, patterns, flashes, fast cuts, or other sequences that are known triggers of epileptic seizures. Check out a very unemotionally-narrated Flash screencap video demo of the Harding FPA. Attentive MeFites will remember that a London 2012 Olympics logo promotion, which showed a "diver diving into a pool which had a multi-colour ripple effect", was re-edited after it was aired on television in 2007 and drew complaints after viewers suffered seizures. [Previously] But despite passing the Harding Test, a Dolce & Gabbana television ad received a complaint last summer to the UK's Advertising Standards Authority by an epileptic viewer. The pass/fail system has a number of variables; for example, a cleared clip may surpass standards on flashing amplitude and frequency, but cover a screen area of less than the allowed 25%. Other recent complaints can be found on the "Ofcom" UK broadcast regulator's Web site. An episode of Pokémon was banned worldwide in 1997 after its airing in Japan caused so-called "Pokémon Shock" in at least 600 people, mostly children. "News reports blamed a scene in the cartoon that featured an exploding "vaccine bomb" set off to destroy a computer virus, followed by five seconds of flashing red light in the eyes of "Pikachu," a rat-like creature that is the show's most popular character. Some other children were stricken later, when watching excerpts from the scene in TV news reports on the earlier victims." "PSE compliance" is currently industry-enforced in the UK, with broadcasters, advertising agencies and games studios complying voluntarily, but should be coming to a broadcaster near you soon. Elsewhere on the epilepsy front: previously on Metafilter, Hip-hop artist Sean Paul suspected to cause grand mal seizures in woman.

X-IE-VERSION-FREEZE

revmitcz — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:43:04 -0800

It slipped through the cracks on my radar, but apparently the IE8 team has met with some web standards gurus and decided that in order to move forward with full standards compliance (and support the known quirks of IE6/7 for corporate intranets), a new "version targeting" system should be put in place. Other browser vendors are not amused. Should IE just give up? There's a whole lot more commentary round-up over here. Highlights : John "JQuery" Resig sees too many problems, James Bennett gives an overview, Hixie thinks it's anti-competitive and toy lemurs act out the controversy. See also the two follow-up posts from Mozilla developer Robert O'Callahan on why their team doesn't suffer the same issues.

B s f t e W b + e t o h e = The full picture

Gyan — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:25:52 -0800

Essential Video Resources - primers, guides and links for the video editor and technician Of particular interest were 1)A Quick Guide to Digital Video Resolution and Aspect Ratio Conversions 2)the DV FAQ

I think the dragons be somewhere on the other side of Mordorsoft Mountains.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:59:09 -0800

The Web Is Agreement: a poster (large, huge) designed by Paul Downey.

Paranoia vs Preparation

nomisxid — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:16:27 -0800

Traditionally, media doesn't print names/photos of people only accused, but not yet convicted, but not always. Lots of towns have a police blotter section where arrests are listed. Here in Seattle, the FBI recently asked the public for help in identifying two men seen acting suspicious on the ferry system. The Seattle PI has decided not to publish the photos. Other local media have. The commentary on if the PI made the right choice follows predictable paths...

Don Edrington

StrikeTheViol — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:42:10 -0800

He's a computer tutor for seniors, who also seems to have a giant collection of music that's rare these days. Shortly before leaving to fight in Korea, he was kissed by Celia Cruz in 1951, among other adventures.

Railroad Gauges and Standardization

marxchivist — Thu, 31 May 2007 04:28:45 -0800

The Days They Changed the Gauge. Early in the development of railroads in the American South, the builders departed from the standard 4' 8 1/2" gauge and built their railroads with the rails 5 feet apart. As part of a trend of increased government standardization, between May 30 and June 1 1886, workers moved over 11,000 miles of track 3 inches to the new standard gauge of 4' 9". [more inside]

what people like

petsounds — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 20:35:23 -0800

What's attractive? Averaged female faces from Hot or Not "These women do not exist.They are a composite of about 30 faces that I created to find out the current standard of good looks on the Internet." also by age and origin

24 (Web) Ways of 2006

juiceCake — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 19:56:27 -0800

24 Ways - 2006 Edition This year's possibly useful 24 articles containing 24 tips and tutorials for those of us who love CSS and other related web development techniques. Last year's links are included too.

"We were surprised by how few had tested their websites with disabled users," he said.

amberglow — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 19:26:24 -0800

Usability Exchange -- a testing service determining site accessibility for disabled users. They're only in the UK now, but it seems like a great idea. Organisations set up their tests online and submit them directly to disabled testers in our database. Testers are then free to complete these tests in their own time, earning money for each test they complete. As tests are completed by users, organisations can view test results, web page logs and other information in real time. More here at BBC, including some concerns.

SOS or Safegaurd organic standards

flummox — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 22:12:55 -0800

SOS or Safegaurd Organic Standards is what the Organic Consumers Association is calling their effort to protect the USDA's National Organic Program's organic food standards adopted in 2002. A rider attached to the 2006 agriculture appropriations bill and sponsored by the Organic Trade Association contains changes to the standards that in their view will make "technical corrections" to the national organic standards. This became necessary in their view after a 73-year-old organic blueberry farmer from Maine named Arthur Harvey won a court appeal against the USDA, arguing that federal regulations guiding organic food standards were less stringent than the original legislation had intended. This issue is splitting the organic standards lobbying community. Or perhaps this has been in the works for sometime as large corporate food producers have moved to take advantage of the rapid growth of the organics market. (more inside)

A bunch of 4-yr old art prodigies

daksya — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 02:26:46 -0800

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder*
*Statement suspect for museum curators, "critics", "experts" and "connosieurs".

Curse for free

evilcolonel — Fri, 18 Feb 2005 16:55:59 -0800

Dropping an F-bomb on the radio, and in Canada you apologize. In the States, having this happen on your station would cost you many dollars.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the browser.

weston — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 16:57:00 -0800

Internet Explorer 7. Dean Edwards does what a team of developers with billions behind them apparently can't -- update IE to work with modern standards. Almost, anyway... as he says, it's still in alpha, and has its quirks, but check out the Pure CSS Menus demo, for example.

Defining Deviancy Down

Seth — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 13:35:50 -0800

Defining Deviancy Down In 1993, one of our greatest statesmen, Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan (D- N.Y.) published one of the most important pieces of social theory entitled "Defining Deviancy Down." Moynihan started from Emile Durkheim's proposition that there is a limit to the amount of deviant behavior any community can "afford to recognize" (called the "Durkheim Constant"). As the amount of deviancy increases, the community has to adjust its standards so that conduct once thought deviant is no longer deemed so. Consequently, if we are not vigilant about enforcing them, our standards would be constantly devolving in order to normalize rampant deviancy. Shortly after Moynihan's article, Charles Krauthammer offered his now-famous response to Moynihan's article in which he argued that the corollary is that society can also "define deviancy up."

Moynihan's theory has been applied to movies, courage, dress codes, sexual indiscretions, corporate behavior, and possibly even to webpages. One might feel compelled to ask, "Do standards even mean anything?" Today, the debate still rages about where we ought to be defeatist about the devolution of standards, or whether we can right the boat by establishing base principles and fight to raise standards up.

Nippallujah

CrazyJub — Sat, 03 Apr 2004 08:36:30 -0800

Start saving for your childrens future therapy. What they learned this month is dead bodies being burnt and strung up on a bridge is ok to print on the front page of a newspaper, and watch on the news at dinner time; but you better not see any nipple, even for a half a second.

The Physical Attributes of a Beautiful Face

Carlos Quevedo — Sat, 17 May 2003 22:02:35 -0800

The first time ever I saw your face: Is beauty perhaps not entirely in the eye of the beholder? [Via LinkFilter.]

Tainted Submissions

bluedaniel — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 15:52:54 -0800

Be happy MeFi has better standards than this. No, I have no interest in submitting works to these folks, and if I had, I wouldn't bother. And not in fear of rejection, but in embarrassment of simply reading their submission guidlines that only the Soup Nazi could appreciate. Have any MeFites ever come across guidelines such as this?