Before Powerpoint, there was... chaos.



  • Now, I am no huge fan of Microsoft's Powerpoint.  I try to use it as a tool to help run meetings and present information, but, like most of us, I have seen it used as little more than a crutch to cover the presenter's lack of skill or preparation.

    Powerpoint does, however, provide a neat and clean way to arrange masses of information.  When properly used, it can sometimes (if you pray at the correct altars) even look the same on multiple platforms!

    This site shows us what the web may have looked like had there never been a Powerpoint.  Simply put... chaos.  I'm viewing this in FF3 on a 1280 x 800 laptop.  Please, someone tell me that this site works under IE5 running at 640x480 or something like that.  

    Check out the gulfs of nonexsistence that comprise slides 9 and 25, the complete confusion of slide 33, or the dime-sized graphs that infest the presentation like worms. 


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @North Bus said:

    Check out the gulfs of nonexsistence that comprise slides 9 and 25, the complete confusion of slide 33, or the dime-sized graphs that infest the presentation like worms. 

    I didn't even have to get that far. Slide 1 was a blank screen. Slide 2, with scrollbars no less, on a 1280x800:

     

    Children with diabetes

    Firefox 3.0.6 on Linux.


  •  Well, PowerPoint surely helped organize that particular website:

    <meta name=ProgId content=PowerPoint.Slide>
    <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft PowerPoint 11">

     Much of the chaos you're referring to was created by clueless people doing "Save as HTML" and proclaiming themselves experts...



  •  Remarkably enough </sarcasm> it renders flawlessly in Internet Explorer, even 64 bit.

      slideshow screen



  • @archivator said:

     Well, PowerPoint surely helped organize that particular website:

    <meta name=ProgId content=PowerPoint.Slide>
    <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft PowerPoint 11">

     

    So they already had it in .ppt format?   Though the first WTF is the fact that they didn't bother to pdf it and put that on their site, the next would be why someone would think that MS's "Save as HTML..." would be a wiser choice than simply posting the .ppt itself.

    The next important question, then, is: "Why does MS's 'Save as HTML' suck so badly?"



  • Simple solution

    Looks okay on Mac OS X with Safari 4. My only complaint is that each slide fills only 75% of the available width.

    I'm sorry if it's a mess on your screen, but offering up a Powerpoint file would be a terrible solution. A much cleaner and more portable alternative would be PDF or a series of PNG's.



  • @North Bus said:

    This site shows us what the web may have looked like had there never been a Powerpoint.

    WTF does the existence or nonexistence of Powerpoint have to do with trends in web layout? Nothing, that's what.

    Consider changing your user name to "Short Bus".



  • @North Bus said:

    The next important question, then, is: "Why does MS's 'Save as HTML' suck so badly?"

    [code]<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:[b]vml[/b]"

    xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"

    xmlns:p="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:powerpoint"

    xmlns:oa="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:activation"

    xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">[/code]



  • @North Bus said:

    The next important question, then, is: "Why does MS's 'Save as HTML' suck so badly?"

    Because Microsoft has negative incentive to provide any cross-platform or even cross-product compatibility with their competitors.  The courts have attempted to provide some incentive for that, but they've yet to provide Microsoft with a compelling argument.

    Disclaimer: Note in the above post I have not actually accused Microsoft of any wrong-doing.  I have only pointed out that they have no economic incentive to not engage in wrong-doing.

    Morb: I know you don't like America's anti-trust legislation.  It still exists, and not complying with it still constitutes breaking the law.  Because Microsoft is in scope for this legislation, and Apple mostly is not, Microsoft's computer software business falls afoul of it, and Apple's does not, despite the fact that Apple does far more of the actions proscribed in said legislation.



  • @tgape said:

    Morb: I know you don't like America's anti-trust legislation.  It still exists, and not complying with it still constitutes breaking the law.  Because Microsoft is in scope for this legislation, and Apple mostly is not, Microsoft's computer software business falls afoul of it, and Apple's does not, despite the fact that Apple does far more of the actions proscribed in said legislation.

    Oh yeah, I absolutely understand that Microsoft is in violation of the law.  There are some legal arguments that they are not, but the courts so far have taken the stance of "Microsoft violates the letter of the law, but it's questionable how much the market actually suffers (if at all) by this."  This is why the Feds decided not to break up the company and why so far most of the actions by the government have just been lots of filings and "oversight", with few actual changes forced on the company.

     

    I would disagree that Microsoft doesn't have an incentive to provide cross-platform support, though.  Increasingly Microsoft has attempted to build interoperability because customers are concerned about vendor lock-in and this is providing an incentive.  The successes of Apple, Google, MySQL and Mozilla against Microsoft have also provided it with an incentive to improve itself.  The actions of the DOJ don't have much to do with this change.  I'm not denying that Microsoft (or any dominant company) is capable of making decisions that hurt consumers, but consumers are not required to buy their products and market pressures result in slow but meaningful change.  So far, it has not been demonstrated that government intervention is any less harmful in the long run than letting things play out and history has shown that government intervention often makes things worse (see AT&T).



  • @Master Chief said:

     Remarkably enough </sarcasm> it renders flawlessly in Internet Explorer, even 64 bit.

      slideshow screen

     

     

    OMG, this ..... pink! :s My eyes!!!!!!!!



  •  @tchize said:

    OMG, this ..... pink! :s My eyes!!!!!!!!
    Pink IE.

    When Vista on its own isn't gay enough.

     

    Sorry Master Chief, couldn't stop myself :)



  • @North Bus said:

    the next would be why someone would think that MS's "Save as HTML..." would be a wiser choice than simply posting the .ppt itself.
    Simple: not everyone has MS Office, and they wanted to cater to the lowest possible common denominator.  Sure, it's easy to get OOo or something, but if someone's at the website, you already know they have a browser.

    Though, to be sure, they probably didn't review it before putting it up, or if they did, they said "ah fuck it" and put it up anyway.



  • @DOA said:

     @tchize said:

    OMG, this ..... pink! :s My eyes!!!!!!!!
    Pink IE.

    When Vista on its own isn't gay enough.

     

    Sorry Master Chief, couldn't stop myself :)

     

    That's not a pink IE, that's the clear IE boarder and his desktop is pink!!  Even worse.



  •  Actually both the desktop AND window decorations are pink.  What of it? :P



  • @Master Chief said:

     Actually both the desktop AND window decorations are pink.  What of it? :P

    Though I'm still not sure what a "Hello Kitty" is, I rather like this: 

    Hello Kitty laptop



  • @Master Chief said:

    Actually both the desktop AND window decorations are pink.  What of it? :P
    Nothing.  I'm sure your boyfriend loves it very much.



  •  @belgariontheking said:

    Nothing.  I'm sure your boyfriend loves it very much.

    Least I can get a date basement boy. :D



  • @Master Chief said:

     @belgariontheking said:

    Nothing.  I'm sure your boyfriend loves it very much.

    Least I can get a date basement boy. :D

    Belgarion got served.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @morbiuswilters said:

    @Master Chief said:

     @belgariontheking said:

    Nothing.  I'm sure your boyfriend loves it very much.

    Least I can get a date basement boy. :D

    Belgarion got served.

    Do Belgarath or Aldur need to be notified? (Or, perhaps, more pertantly, Ce'Nedra.)

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