Re: Revined URL was re: An article about escalating software complexity

From: Michael M. Butler (butler@comp-lib.org)
Date: Fri Dec 01 2000 - 09:38:13 MST


I'm a geeeeeeenius, that's how.

But I can't spell "revised".

:)

I used what Jakob Nielsen calls URL butchery. I chopped off the
...TODAYS.TOPSTORY.HTM and resubmitted the URL, then nosed around until
I found a link to what looked like the right story.

Longwinded exposition:

The LA Times evidently moves TOPSTORY is to a different location when
the day changes.
The "correct" way for the LA Times to publish this would have been
something like making TODAYS.TOPSTORY.HTM a symbolic link that pointed
to the .../20001127/t000113753.html "final resting place", so that that
would be the URL you'd pick up in your browser when you arrived, even on
the date of publication. But they didn't. *Sigh*

Jakob Nielsen's www.useit.com is part of my regular reading list. It's
worth a look for commentary on the state of usability, Web and
otherwise.

Cheers,

Mike

Emlyn wrote:
>
> Thanks. How did you find it? I couldn't find bloody anything.
>
> Emlyn
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael M. Butler" <butler@comp-lib.org>
> To: <extropians@extropy.org>
> Sent: Friday, December 01, 2000 3:06 AM
> Subject: Revined URL was re: An article about escalating software complexity
>
> > Ummm. Thanks for the link, but are you aware that it expired?:
> > (.../TODAYS.TOPSTORY.HTM) has a tendency to do that. I found it at
> > http://WWW.LATIMES.COM/business/columns/techcol/20001127/t000113753.html
> >
> > > Emlyn wrote:
> > >
> > > http://WWW.LATIMES.COM/BUSINESS/COLUMNS/TECHCOL/TODAYS.TOPSTORY.HTM
> > >
> > > This is a funny article about the increasing cost of computerisation,
> > > and the apparent hopelessness of software developers (it's all our
> > > fault, apparently).
> > >
> > > I really liked this:
> > > Jones concludes in his published paper, "There would probably be
> > > no software labor shortage if software quality could be brought under
> > > full control."
> > > Emlyn
> > > (There would probably be no money shortage, either, if someone would
> > > just hand out lots of money)
> >



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:50:32 MDT