DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

Jeff Zeldman takes on everybody’s least favorite domain registrar… check out the screenshot and then read the merciless (but oh-so-deserved) commentary.

Responsible web developers test their systems in all popular web browsers.

I personally don’t bother, because, really, you don’t really expect me to run Windows, do you?

A recent A List Apart article describes using a low-end Mac as a cross-platform web design testing station. The article is insanely detailed, and it inspired me to restore my own ancient cross-platform testbed, which was a copy of VirtualPC 1.0 (dating from about 1997).

Because the ALA article recommended it, and because it is a lot cheaper, I bought a copy of FWB’s RealPC. This was a big mistake. The electronic version is incomplete and broken: the documentation refers to files that are not supplied, for example. So do FWB’s support reps. The site-search at fwb.com points to a CGI that does not exist as of this writing. And when I tried to call FWB, all their phones were misrouted. I returned the software for a refund.

Next I purchased and downloaded VirtualPC from Connectix. So far, I’m impressed; it’s well worth the extra $70. It took an evening to install Win98, IE5, IE5.5, and IE6, but now I’m about 20 seconds away from testing a web page in any of those browsers. Considering that Microsoft makes it impossible (AFAIK) to run multiple versions of IE on one computer (well, within a single installation of Windows), this emulated solution is significantly faster: I can save the state of these virtual machines, with IE already running, so I can jump from the MacOS into already-running IE within Windows, in mere seconds.

To be fair, Windows emulators are also available for Linux and even Windows; this is not strictly a Macintosh solution. The point is that for testing web systems, emulation is absolutely the way to go.

Here’s a handy tip for medical professionals everywhere: if you’re going to be getting in someone’s face later with an otoscope, why not forego the plate of garlic fries at lunchtime?

Congratulations to AXIS Dance Company for staging a hugely successful show at the Olympic Arts Festival in Salt Lake City!

Preview: AXIS Closes the Gap Between Dance and Disability

Review: AXIS program shatters barriers

Taking another step in my ongoing exploration of alternative diets, I took a day’s reprieve from solid foods, instead drinking 4 meals’ worth of fresh juice. It was pretty much a non-event, by which I mean it was neither as difficult nor as interesting as I anticipated; I mention it here just so I can point out that kale juice tastes really bad.

I now realize why extractors come with recipe books. If you juice indiscriminately you are likely to end up with a tall glass of nastiness. Sure, it’s high in vitamins and vital living enzymes… if you can manage to choke it down.