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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Ancient Geek-Computer myths and facts
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
It's time to start a new Geek thread for a new year! I will move the old computer thread to Limbo so those who need those words of wisdom will have easy access.
OK Geeks! Help those of us who have questions about the mysteries of these new-fangled technologies!!
You can find the moved thread here.
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
Here is Piglet's query and the two following posts from the previous thread:
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
I don't think I've ever posted on what I think of as the techno-peasants' support thread ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) , and this may not even be a Geek question, but here goes.
The computer in the house we're looking after for friends is an Apple desk-top with wireless keyboard and mouse. The usual way of starting it (as demonstrated by our friend before he left) is by hitting the space bar, and the screen came to life.
When I went to use it this afternoon, the screen remained completely blank, although I hadn't done anything different when I stopped using it last night. I've tried obvious things like turning it off and on again, and even changed the batteries in the keyboard, but with no luck. There don't appear to be any on/off switches; the monitor itself doesn't appear to have any switches at all.
What have I done??? ![[Help]](graemlins/help.gif)
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
I did that once! It turned out that the machine had simply turned off (a very short power outage in the middle of the night will do this) and i could not find the very cleverly disguised power button on the case. Had to call IT to show me where they hid it (i think it was on the back of the case).
quote:
Originally posted by Goldfish Stew:
Piglet - try the guide here - might have to look through the list to find the matching model...
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Goldfish Stew:
Piglet - try the guide here - might have to look through the list to find the matching model...
Thanks, GS - that certainly helped a bit*. Now the computer has decided it doesn't recognise the wireless keyboard (make it 'discoverable', whatever that means) , and I can't work out how to put that right.
* although why in the name of all that's holy they have to put the on/off switches in such stupid places is completely beyond me
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Goldfish Stew
Shipmate
# 5512
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Posted
Piglet, from Apple support
quote:
1. Make sure your device is powered on.
2. If the LED is blinking, your device is in Discoverable Mode. If the LED is steady, your device is paired with another item. Unpair the device, turn it off, and start again.
3. In the menu bar of your Mac, choose the Bluetooth icon, then choose Open Bluetooth Preferences.
4. Your Mac scans for available Bluetooth devices.
5. When your device appears in the Bluetooth Preference Pane, click Pair.
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Posts: 2405 | From: Aotearoa/New Zealand | Registered: Feb 2004
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
I have recently bought a tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab A). My main reason for buying it was Overdrive, which allows me to download e books form the public library (only the Voyager from the kindle range allows this and its more expensive). Apart from when I am actually downloading books I turn off the Wi-Fi as I've been told the battery goes flat more quickly when Wi-Fi is on.
As it is the battery seems to need charging more frequently than the kindle does. Is that usual? Would the fact that I am using a large font drain the battery more quickly?
Please don't be afraid to state the obvious in your answers - what may be obvious to you may be totally unknown to me.
Huia - yet another tecnopeasant*
Thanks Uncle Pete - such a useful term.
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
Piglet - I know there are lots of Apple supporters, but having used them occasionally, I loathe them. They love hiding things that they don't think you should need. It always feels like I am a child using them, looked after by mummy who makes everything pretty for me, and hides all the nasty ucky stuff.
Huia - Tablets will drain batteries quicker than kindles. Font size is irrelevant, it is just the nature of them - there is a lot more going on in the background.
Screen brightness will make a difference. The other thing is send it to sleep when you are not using it. And don;t go too far from a power socket.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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Posted
Dear Huia,
The Samsung will be using a completely different, and much more power hungry, technology for it's screen (the screen is refreshed constantly, whereas the Kindle only uses power when the display changes). Added to that is that the Kindle upholds the principle of attempting to do one thing well, i.e. be an e-book reader, while the Samsung is much more of a general purpose machine and will be, or ready to be, running all sorts of 'services' for whatever the user may throw at it.
The upshot is that despite probably having a larger battery than the Kindle the Samsung will be using power at a higher rate, even when it is sleeping.
You may find that there is a setting in the 'Battery/power management' part of settings (or it may be somewhere else!!!) that enables the Samsung to shut down automatically between the hours of X and Y, and to turn itself on, ready for use, when that time slot is passed. That can help save power if you typically use the reader between certain hours. You may also be able to switch off services there that are irrelevant to your needs, but add to the battery drainage when they are running.
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
Thanks Schroedinger's Cat and Alisdair.
So I'm a voracious reader and my tablet has a voracious appetite - not a good mix, but easily fixed. I'll have to mix my reading between paper books, kindle and tablet, and develop a routine of charging it whenever I'm not using it.
Not so secretly - I love my kindle best because its lighter and so user friendly but I really don't want to support Amazon's business practices. Also the exchange rate isn't friendly, added to which Amazon are now collecting a Goods and Services tax of 15% on behalf of the NZ Government (which is a bit ironic really). On the other hand downloads from the library are free ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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Posted
Huia, for what it's worth, which is something, but includes more expense: e-readers like the Kobo support the open EPUB format (and others), which the Kindle does not!
EPUB is not encumbered with DRM (Digital Rights Management) software, designed to 'protect' the publisher's 'rights', i.e. you (the reader) are actually just renting this work from us, please don't imagine you actually own it
Just for the record: 'Calibre' is a very comprehensive bit of software for Linux/OS-X/Windows that enables people to manage their e-book collection, back it up so that they are not dependent on the e-book publisher making/not making already purchased books available when ever required, and (through an add on module) will strip out the DRM on Amazon Kindle e-books and reformat them as EPUBs, or whatever format you choose.
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
I need to replace my very elderly PC, an old Dell desktop tower type. Up till now I have been thinking along the lines of "more of the same", but in PC world yesterday the all in one machines caught my eye. Has anyone had any experience of them, how do you think they compare to the conventional PC design? I realise that though they take up less place you lose the ability to upgrade easily, but what other advantages/disadvantages are there?
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
You need to think of a couple of things, like how you like to position your monitor, whether you are interested in touch screen, if you require a built-in CD/DVD drive ...
Check your printer connections too: will your present printer link up to your new computer (either by cable or WjFi)?
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
I'm thinking more about things like reliability, upgradeability, noise - I've heard that some all in ones can be very noisy. I don't want a touchscreen, but I do want a DVD rewriter. I have seen one or two possibilities but still wondering whether it wouldn't be obsolete in a couple of years and I would have to get a new one again.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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Posted
@Sparrow - Although upgrading an all-in-one can be an issue, the chances are that unless you have fairly niche/demanding requirements (or buy a bottom of the barrel example of the type) a half decent specification will see out the life of the device. The days when you almost had to upgrade hardware every one/two years are over.
As with all computer hardware the most important parts are the bits the human operator has to actually ‘use’, i.e. the keyboard, the pointer control (mouse/glidepad/…), and the screen, plus the ergonomics. If you are comfortable and using hardware that works well with your body and senses it makes a HUGE difference to the quality of your long term experience.
A ‘touch screen’ on a desktop setup is generally a waste of time and very poor ergonomically (‘gorilla arm’ is a thing), but there are situations where it can be useful, so it’s up to the user to know what they really need.
As for the internals, i.e. processors, disk/solid-state drives, graphics cards, etc. I would definitely recommend a ‘SSD’ (Solid State Drive), if available, but otherwise just read reviews and get an idea of what your needs really are. Spending on a specification that is way beyond your actual usuage is pointless, e.g. you probably don't need an 'i7' processor (unless you know that you do!). 8Gb of RAM is the minimum you should go for these days (although systems will certainly run happily on 4Gb it doesn’t leave you any headroom for future bloat). Read the reviews.
An alternative to an ‘all-in-one’ is a ‘mini-PC’. I have one clipped to the back of my monitor, so effectively like an ‘all-in-one’, but more flexible in that you get a lot more choice over the basic parts of the setup (screen, keyboard, etc.), and also the internal bits (if you are interested). Some mini-PCs are fanless---really are silent---but they tend to be the lower powered ones; most would still be perfectly fine for web browsing, email, and letter writing type use. My one has a fan, but is to all intents and purposes silent even when the fan is running.
DVD units, extra storage, etc. in an all-in-one or mini-PC can be easily added as external units via USB, and just as easily be replaced/removed if they break or become redundant.
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
I should have come back here ages ago to say thank you for your advice - it turns out that, despite having tried them both ways, I'd put the batteries in the keyboard in upside-down ... ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
Everything seems more-or-less functional now, except it's now telling me that the mouse batteries are low (and I thought D. had replaced them ...).
Will sort that out soon.
Still think Macs are deeply silly.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Alisdair:
A ‘touch screen’ on a desktop setup is generally a waste of time and very poor ergonomically (‘gorilla arm’ is a thing), but there are situations where it can be useful, so it’s up to the user to know what they really need.
If one does art design or presentation, a touchstone is brilliant. The Microsoft Surface Studio is one of the best pieces of kit available.
quote:
I would definitely recommend a ‘SSD’ (Solid State Drive), if available,
I recommend against an SSD unless the system has two drives or one purchases an external HDD for long-term storage.
Solid state drives have issues with long-term data retention, especially when the power is not on.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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Posted
@lilBuddha - I agree with you over the policy of having the system and application software on an SSD, while personal files are kept on an external hard drive (whether SSD or HDD).
The issue of data retention only seems to be an issue for anyone trying to use SSDs for long term storage (years). For average day to day usage it doesn't seem to be an issue worth worrying about. In reality 'disks' don't generally get used for long term archival storage either; we tend to shift our data on over time, from device/s to newer devices, rather than simply leaving archived data sitting on media that we last actually used ten years ago---though I am sure some folk do that, but then they are likely to be disappointed if they ever have cause to try and access that data at a a much later date.
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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Posted
And regardless of how reliable/unreliable one's preferred medium of data storage is, there is no substitute for having an effective BACKUP procedure.
For anyone who hasn't come across it before, the received (and very pragmatic) wisdom is: that digital data does not truly exist until it exists in at least three places, one of them securely off site.
The fact is that sooner or later we will have a disaster and our precious data will be rendered permanently unusable. Without a backup procedure that actually gets practised we can only cry and think about what might have been, if only we had kept proper backups!
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
Backups are only as good as your ability to restore from them. Certainly in a commercial setting, the backup strategy should include regularly scheduled test restores.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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Posted
@ABR - That is rather the point of having multiple, i.e. three or more, backups, and renewing them on a sensibly frequent basis.
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
You can have as large a number of backups as you wish, but if you can't restore from any of them then you're up the proverbial creek.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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Posted
On that basis why keep backups at all? In fact on that basis it's a wonder anyone gets through a day's work without a catastrophic, or even a minor, data loss.
But, in fact, what happens is that statistically the commonly used forms of data storage are more than reliable enough to trust on a daily basis (for most purposes), and reliable enough to trust on a longer term basis (monthly/yearly) where multiple copies are kept on separate media, and regularly refreshed.
In other words: application of recognised practice based on experience obviates the real world risks to the extent that the risks are highly unlikely to cause a problem.
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Alisdair:
Application of recognised practice based on experience obviates the real world risks to the extent that the risks are highly unlikely to cause a problem.
An axiom clearly unknown to Murphy when he postulated his famous law.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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Posted
Yep, Murphy's Law is guaranteed to apply in the fullness of time, which is why multiple copies of vital data are needed. More than it is hard to do as nothing is perfect, especially not us!
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
I'm back again, being hassled by the Apple computer in the house.
I suspect it may be very ill - when it lets you into the Internet, after a couple of clicks yellow and/or blue dots and stripes appear on the screen and the whole thing freezes, so that you can't even log out properly without recourse to the old "unplug it and plug it back in" ploy, which doesn't really work - it just does the same thing again.
Have we contracted a virus, or is it just being difficult?
[ 30. January 2017, 20:02: Message edited by: Piglet ]
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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Posted
@Piglet - A display image that is repeatedly breaking up and freezing suggests a failing graphics card, a dying monitor, or a power supply that is on the blink, but there are other possibilities. Apart from checking that everything is plugged in properly, I would imagine it looks very much like a trip to a proper computer technician is going to be needed.
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
Agree. But don't overlook the video cable if the monitor is connected to the computer that way. I've had this problem happen and be traced to a loose or damaged cable. I'd certainly replace the cable before I replaced the monitor or the video card (cheaper!).
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Thanks again, gentlemen. The owner's son-in-law is apparently well-versed in computerese, so I think our first resort will be to get him to have a look at it; he may be happier to Do Things to it than we are, as it doesn't belong to us.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
My hybrid machine has developed an internet access problem, which has occurred twice. It will start, then seize up and not allow any site to load, either in Firefox or IE, or allow Thunderbird to access my webmail. It will also take forever to load McAfee and then not allow me to run anything in it. It does communicate with the router, and with my central data store attached to it.
The first time, it sulked for over a day, during which I copied all my data to the store, in case it was lacking space, and looked up the possibility of restoring it to factory settings. I used the troubleshooter to see what the problem was, and it said that the problem lay between my router and the internet. This was not true, as there was no problem with any other machine.
Eventually it suddenly came up with a message about a script on the page making the web browser run slowly (while no browser was open) and did I want to end it, so I did, and everything was then back to normal.
So I started a full McAfee scan, which stopped unfinished, and, while surfing, the whole thing started again. The site I was on when it caught again was perfectly OK on other machines.
This morning I got hold (via another computer and a flash drive) of McAfee Stinger, Kaspersky's malware remover, and Microsoft's one. The first two found nothing. MS made a number of false starts and stopped, but eventually ran a quick scan and then a full one, which reported, during it, that there was an infected file, but at the end claimed nothing. I was then, unexpectedly, able to run a full McAfee scan, also nothing. But everything was normal at the end. All working well again. I'm accessing here via that machine now. This is the only site I've been on so far.
So what is going on? Have I got a virus? This machine runs Win 8.1. The other machine on the same system has had no problem, though visiting the same sites. Nor has the one on Win 7.
[ 02. February 2017, 09:37: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I have now, fingers crossed, visited the site I was at on the second occurrence - no probs, though.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
You have run the scans and nothing, so a virus is unlikely. It may just be that the sites are particularly bad at loading (especially first time), and that causes your virus scanner to kick in a lot.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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Posted
Unwanted and poorly written scripts are the bane of many websites, even ones from perfectly reputable organisations. Many web-pages today rely on, or simply allow, other websites to piggy back on them, run services, etc. It's a jungle.
One solution, which I generally find extremely effective, although it does at times interfere with the smooth running of some pages, is to use the 'NoScript' add-on. There are others available.
Basically this allows you to place a blanket ban on scripts, but then you can pick and choose which scripts to allow on a permanent or one-time basis.
Some scripts are essential for the website to run at all, but many are only to do with advertising and tracking you around the web, or running services you do not generally need. Down with this sort of thing, I say!
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
I Love noscript. I think it a wonderful add on to my browser and helps keep my computer running well.
That said, it is difficult to get people to adopt it. Most professional websites* use internal code. Most entertainment, and many retail websites, use external code to run elements of their websites. And since the majority of people visit these type of sites, one will encounter a massive amount of scripts. And most of them will require a search to know what they are.
I've run into sites with dozens of external scripts running.
Like everything else, the price paid to remain free is more than what many are willing to pay.
*Those used to advertise professional services
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Hmm. I've had a look at the history, and there doesn't seem to be anything particularly unusual, except occupydemocrats something or other.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
Hmm. I've had a look at the history, and there doesn't seem to be anything particularly unusual, except occupydemocrats something or other.
You will not see a history of the scripts that have run in the background whilst you are browsing sites. See the ads alongside this thread? Those websites they link to are running scripts, yet your browsers will maintain no record of them.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I'm running an ad blocker. All the places I visited yesterday were places I had been before, frequently, so I was thinking that if I had picked it up from one of them, I would have picked it up before.
I do wonder about all the videos on news sites, though.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
1. An ad blocker is different to a script blocker.
2. The scripts being called can vary from visit to visit, as can the ads.
Odds are most sites you visit are running multiple scripts from websites you will never visit directly. A script blocker, such as noscript, will block most if not all.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I'll give that a go - but nothing again, yet.
It had not only stopped me opening McAfee, but getting into Task Manager as well. I wanted to see what was running.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
Apologies, I did not read your post that began this line of enquiry. This behaviour sounds very virus like. I know you've run detection software, but there are two concerns.
One is that viruses can hide if they install before detection.
Two is that all detection software have weaknesses.
If you can, download a separate anti-virus like Avast free version and Malwarebytes.
Another, simpler method is to use a restore point from before the problems began.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Thanks, I'll add those to the collection. But so far, things have been OK since the MS scan. I don't have much room for restore points, though I have a partition for return to factory. Windows has a refresh function but it, while preserving files, would have deleted programs like the touchpad driver!
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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SusanDoris
Incurable Optimist
# 12618
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Posted
The older I get, the more I know how much I don’t know! And if ever I began to think otherwise, reading threads such as this would quickly remove any delusions I might have! Very much admiration for those with expertise.
quote:
Originally posted by Alisdair:
Unwanted and poorly written scripts are the bane of many websites, even ones from perfectly reputable organisations. Many web-pages today rely on, or simply allow, other websites to piggy back on them, run services, etc. It's a jungle.
May I ask, is this anything to do with what I was advised to do when I first had a computer plus my assistive software – ie. tick the boxes for ‘ignore colours’ and ‘ignore fonts’?
One thing I have been finding quite annoying recently is that I often get ‘This page can’t be displayed’ when I go to the R&E message board. I did put a question into google and it came up with a few links because this is not apparently an uncommon problem, but I did not attempt to understand them! It comes back on or goes off sooner or later, sometimes when I have re-booted, sometimes not. Does anyone have any advice on this, please?
P.S. I can't use Firefox or Google Chrome because Dolphin SuperNova does not work with them.
[ 04. February 2017, 10:20: Message edited by: SusanDoris ]
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I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
Posts: 3083 | From: UK | Registered: May 2007
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
Web pages have become more and more complex, and assistance aids are not always that good at understanding them. Most of the time, these pages are "tested" by people who are using them "normally". At their best, they are built to confirm with disability guidelines, but not always (especially if these guidelines get in the way of cool new features).
And having built several, getting ones head around the various requirements, when they are not always clear and consistent is very difficult. And some companies take more care than others.
So yes, you will have problems. Probably always. Hopefully, things get better in some areas. If you can, avoid the sites that are problematic. The ones that conform should be supported! That will drive change.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
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take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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SusanDoris
Incurable Optimist
# 12618
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Posted
Schroedinger's Cat
Thank you for your reply - much appreciated.
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I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
Posts: 3083 | From: UK | Registered: May 2007
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Alisdair
Shipmate
# 15837
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@SusanDoris - Depending on what your needs are you may find the following useful (you may already use it):
When you visit a particular web page look out for a little icon that appears in the address bar of the browser (where the page address is displayed). The icon will probably look like and opened book.
If you click on it the page will re-display, but only included the content text and not much else. You lose most of the page's 'functionality(!), but gain a very clear view of the basic content, which you can resize to suit yourself.
I think most modern browsers include a feature like this. I have described how it appears in Firefox (which I realise you possibly do not use).
Posts: 334 | From: Washed up in England | Registered: Aug 2010
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SusanDoris
Incurable Optimist
# 12618
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Posted
Alisdair
Thank you - much appreciated. I increased the magnification but did not see it. I will ask my neighbour to have a look for it for me - but I'll wait until she has got over her cold! There are a lot of infections going about at the moment. !
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I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
Posts: 3083 | From: UK | Registered: May 2007
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mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Alisdair:
@SusanDoris - Depending on what your needs are you may find the following useful (you may already use it):
When you visit a particular web page look out for a little icon that appears in the address bar of the browser (where the page address is displayed). The icon will probably look like and opened book.
If you click on it the page will re-display, but only included the content text and not much else. You lose most of the page's 'functionality(!), but gain a very clear view of the basic content, which you can resize to suit yourself.
I think most modern browsers include a feature like this. I have described how it appears in Firefox (which I realise you possibly do not use).
I'm in Firefox right now and I don't see it. Could I possibly have turned it off somewhere and not remember it? It would be good to be able to show people.
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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
Too many bouncing, flashing, moving things on a page make me nauseated. What I find helps with some webpages is to go to "Print Preview." You can adjust the size, and the animated stuff will stop.
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Not asking for help this time, just sharing an infuriating bit of computer behaviour.
My friends laptop has taken to having half the screen display as vertical narrow stripes. Intermittently. However, the most recent occasion was much longer and looked irreversible. So we got in touch with our repair guy - reasonable estimate - and I spent time setting up my spare to be lent during repairing. Friend spent this evening finishing the transferring of files and other stuff. And then, when he went back in to do a last thing, the screen was back to normal!
Do I get the thing picked up for repair? Or do we wait until it does it again?
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
And then, when he went back in to do a last thing, the screen was back to normal!
Do I get the thing picked up for repair? Or do we wait until it does it again?
When this happened to one of mine, I think it was the cable that runs in the hinge between the laptop and the screen. It would come and go depending on screen angle, where I squeezed the case, and so on.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
When I picked it up, the effect reappeared - the connections in the hinge, as you say. We've had a quote for that, cheaper than a new screen.
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