Chef_Troy ([info]chef_troy) wrote in [info]keenspace,
2005-10-15 08:07:00
An open letter to [info]strredwolf and [info]kisai:

Hi, folks!

This is about my site stats page accessible through my member page. It is, as I'm sure will be no surprise to you when I mention that I use IE, not working - it's just code.

A comment near the beginning of said code archly informs me that if I'm seeing unrendered XML, I should go complain to Microsoft for not supporting it or else go download Firefox or Opera.

This is, as they say, not cricket.

You folks have made your disdain for my browser of choice quite plain -- as I recall, it's identified as "Micro$oft Internet Exploder" in the stats breaking down visitors by browser, not that I can see those stats anymore -- but is it REALLY necessary to make it impossible for me to access my site's stats without sharing your philosophy? You folks are coming across like a nurse forcing a patient to take some nasty medicine for his own good by taking away the TV remote until he capitulates.

The bottom line is that I am entitled to have a working stats page as part of my agreement with ComicGenesis - it's clearly stated as part of the package they provide in exchange for running their ads. For you guys to make a deliberate choice that excludes more than four-fifths of your customers is a pretty PETA-ish way to make your point.

Love, Scandal Sheet!

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    switch
     
    Help
  • 18 comments

[info]elyscape

October 15 2005, 15:49:08 UTC 6 years ago

It's worth noting that the stats viewer was not made by ComicGenesis. It was an outside program that they used. Therefore, the "Micro$oft" thing was not their fault.
As for the site no longer working, I'll PM Kisai about it. There's a specific line she can remove that should fix everything.

[info]elyscape

October 15 2005, 15:55:24 UTC 6 years ago

PMed her. I'll let you know what happens.

[info]chef_troy

October 15 2005, 17:48:39 UTC 6 years ago

Okay, I retract that part of my rant.

[info]strredwolf

October 15 2005, 17:01:11 UTC 6 years ago

Unfortunately, this is a bug in IE that me and Kisai cannot correct. IE just doesn't support XHTML (not even with version 7.0), which Kisai is set on using. I want to stick with HTML 4.01 until Microsoft gets it's butt kicked by Firefox and has to release a XHTML-capable version 8.

Right now, the best you can do is use Firefox or Opera (free downloads now, and Opera just stripped the ads out) until everyone can convince Kisai that working stats now is of more value over XHTML compliance.

[info]kisai

October 15 2005, 17:03:56 UTC 6 years ago

Will you knock off the 1998 style of thinking please.

[info]strredwolf

October 15 2005, 17:12:31 UTC 6 years ago

Tell Microsoft to knock off the 1988 style thinking first and start supporting these open standards (like OpenDoc, XHTML, and oh, how about opening up it's IM network like they were saying they want to do, but never did?).

[info]atmanryu

October 15 2005, 17:48:59 UTC 6 years ago

So... Which one: Firefox or Opera?

[info]strredwolf

October 15 2005, 18:27:23 UTC 6 years ago

Ether or. Both have proper XHTML pharsers. I'm not sure about Konqueror/Safari.

[info]atmanryu

October 15 2005, 18:35:22 UTC 6 years ago

*sighs annoyed* Very well; I just hope I don't need to reformat the computer this time...

[info]kisai

October 15 2005, 19:17:27 UTC 6 years ago

my point.

[info]strredwolf

October 15 2005, 20:16:57 UTC 6 years ago

Also mine. Until Microsoft gets it's shit together, we have to work around it -- the easiest way is HTML 4.01.

[info]kisai

October 16 2005, 04:23:00 UTC 6 years ago

No. Do not touch it or I'll be mad.

The "View Stats" is now available in the new siteadmin, there is NO excuse to bitch about it now.

[info]strredwolf

October 16 2005, 04:28:33 UTC 6 years ago

Can I bitch about bugs?

XML error: not well-formed (invalid token) at line 302

Also, I do need to bug you about one other thing we need to get in there "soon" relating to PREMIUM content.

[info]kisai

October 16 2005, 18:57:46 UTC 6 years ago

I fixed the bugs last night, as I wasn't going to regenerate everyones log sets when it was going to be done in a few hours anyway.

[info]kisai

October 15 2005, 17:03:20 UTC 6 years ago

This is not going to change at this time. I'm writing a siteadmin wrapper, and in order for it to be parsed correctly, the output must be xml. The only reason you are seing the xml and not the page as intended is because microsoft doesn't support xhtml, nor supports the xhtml mime-type, and do not have any intention of doing so in IE7. http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/09/15/467901.aspx

What is supposed to happen is that you go through siteadmin, siteadmin parses the xhtml file as xml, rewrites the URL's in it so it doesn't link to the old members pages. The output from siteadmin would send the backwards compatible code to IE, and the faster rendering code to Opera/Mozilla.

[info]chef_troy

October 15 2005, 21:40:23 UTC 6 years ago

This leaves me right where I was, Kisai - you're choosing to implement something because it's convenient for YOU and ignoring the fact that the overwhelming majority of your company's customers are unable to use it.

Knowing that Microsoft doesn't support your solution should lead you to the inescapable conclusion that 80 percent of your company's customers can't use that solution -- and that alone should be reason enough to find a different solution. To behave otherwise makes you look like a video-rental store owner refusing to stock anything but Beta tapes because they're higher-quality than VHS.

[info]kisai

October 16 2005, 00:40:29 UTC 6 years ago

Okay let me rephrase:

I need the pages to be output in XML so I can make them run through the siteadmin. The current way you access the pages is going to go away.

The overall output would be the same as before.

[info]kisai

October 16 2005, 04:21:23 UTC 6 years ago

http://siteadmin.comicgenesis.com/view_stats.php

Login with a forum login, add your site via the form at the bottom
click on "View Stats"

This will output the stats using the the files you were previously seeing the XML from.
Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Facebook Twitter More login options
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…