Random Musings

(I've had a few random thoughts and whatnot lately, and thought I'd share them.)

Computer Etiquette (in a multi-user household)

In a house with four adults, sharing just one computer with an internet connection can be tricky business. It's a delicate juggling act at times.

Older browsers could make this awkward (depending on sites one was visiting and browsing habits), but my observation has been that tab-based browsers make this exceedingly easy. The only problem arises when less computer-savvy individuals use other people's windows without realizing the distinction. (I won't hold that against them, though.)

Browsing With Firefox

When I first started using Firefox, I would periodically use Internet Explorer to look at certain webpages that didn't work as well in Firefox. As time has passed, though, I've given up on IE and never looked back.

Firefox has a lot of plug-in bells and whistles, but the only gadget I've used at all-the gadget that got me hooked, and the gadget that got my attention-is the ad-blocker. I tried using IE's ad-blocker, but it didn't do anything for me. Firefox's ad-blocker is awesome. Probably the best feature of it is that it makes blocking ads a game. "Doo de doo de doo... Oops, an ad I haven't blocked yet. BAM! HA HA HA!" That's what blocking ads is like for me using Firefox. (I showed this to my sister, and she remarked "Yeah, sometimes you even say that out loud.")

Game Sites

If you're a parent (or an adult older sibling, such as myself) and you permit computer and internet usage for a younger child, you have a tightrope to walk. Letting a child use a site completely unsupervised is obviously a big no-no, but the level of supervision and monitoring involved has to be balanced properly.

That said, if you allow games on your site that are inappropriate for younger children, please don't name your site "[something]kids," "Kids[something]," or anything that indicates it's an okay site for children. Please.

And don't make stealthily inappropriate games, like a cartoony game with rock-paper-scissors-playing robots that has references to sexual activity and porn.

HEY YOUTUBE

Why don't you have any less-wide video embed formats available anymore? I always feel kind of uncomfortable putting videos on my posts lately.

Finally...

I've been working on and off on gathering material for a rather massive post. With luck, it'll go up next week. When I say "massive," I mean I may need to figure out how to set up "the jump" so that I can put all the laggy stuff (like the numerous video embeds) on the back end of the jump. Between now and then, I still hope to put up some decent stuff tomorrow.

-Signing off.