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Thread: Internet Standards & Competition

Author Image Gerry Patterson. The world's most humble blogger
Edited and endorsed by PGTS, Home of the world's most humble blogger

Out of the Abyss


Chronogical Blog Entries:



Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 10:21:38 +1100

Abyss, noun:
  1. An immeasurably deep chasm, depth, or void: "lost in the vast abysses of space and time" (Loren Eiseley).
    • The primeval chaos out of which it was believed that the earth and sky were formed.
    • The abode of evil spirits; hell.

Thanks Dictionary.com for that definition. In fact, if I could launch into another tangent, thanks in many ways ...

No doubt that is why you rate so well in Google. And in my own humble fashion I have just added to that rating (just leave the money on the fridge). When you think about it ... it's unfair. The popular sites get more popular. And the less popular just fade away. Well that's the Internet, for you! ... it is not really that fair! In fact, if I could indulge in a little internal self-promotion, I wrote about the undemocratic nature of the Internet here.

And that's why a site like Dictionary.com will probably maintain a good position whilst newcomers, with poorly designed, crappy sites that depend heavily on frames and javascript with huge graphics will languish at the bottom of the a list of 26,000 hits from Google, for a few months, and then disappear! Although, if anyone from Dictionary.com should happen to read my humble little blog, I should mention to them, that if they made their HTML W3C, and used ISO-standard characters in the text, I would heap further praise upon them, as would many other sites and their rating would go truly stellar! They would be in an unassailable position!

Just some free advice for the management team at Dictionary.com ...

And poor design is the reason why I often don't accept links on my links page. And now that I think about it, it is a bit churlish not to respond. I should set up something like the following:

    This site tries to promote good website design and open standards.

    And for that reason does not foster reciprocal links with websites
    that exhibit poor design.

    If you wish to find out more about website design, use the search
    engine Google to search for information on this ...

    HINT: Try "KISS website design"

          or  "W3C website design"

    If you would like an assessment and a report on your site, you could
    arrange one at [put link here]. However, their will be a fee for
    professional services.

Well, that's the unpaid advertisements out of the way. Now to get down to the topic of this blog entry which is "Abyss". This was prompted by some feedback, from Jeremy Hill. He mentioned that he was using Abyss on his PC.

According to what may be the original source forge page, Abyss has a tiny footprint, uses minimal resources, is written in C, and is consequently very portable. A quote from this page is as follows:

It is capable of running CGI scripts and has a built in Web Admin interface.

Also it appears that Mahfoudh has not used the GPL. Instead it looks more like a limited public license (possibly similar to the BSD license)

It seems to have found a home on http://www.aprelium.com/

The page http://www.aprelium.com/abyssws/opinions.html contains many testimonials. I searched through them. But most of the testimonials were from webhosts running Apache. I eventually found one that was Abyss. (http://www.atlantamessengers.org/), fairly rough looking code ...

Also I note that in the netcraft survey, Abyss does not even rate a mention.

And as I write this my doorbell rings. I have only just arisen (I was working late last night). Outside it is already very hot. Flies buzz busily in the early morning heat. Two attractive young ladies are standing on my doorstep, bibles and pamphlets in hand. They never had religious instruction teachers like this when I was at school ... They are Jehova's Witnesses asking if I like many others have been wondering how it is God could allow such terrible things to occur, as have been occurring lately (esp natural disasters like tsunamis). Well no I haven't -- I have a rational view of earth science.

They leave me with a copy of "The Watchtower" and a quotation from Revelations 21:3,4

I search through my shelf of old biochemistry and physics text books, where I am sure I had an old bible ... where is it? No salvation for me today! This leads me to wonder ... Would I be able to look this up online?

I turn to almighty Google (to whom we all beseech and pray -- alleluia, have mercy on us all!). I discover there are some appalling bible sites online! Typical American evangelist rubbish! I think we need some equal time for atheist evangelists.

Of course true to form the website that comes up top of Google's list is quite superb (the cream often rises in Google). I have not heard of the server, which is HTTP/1, GoGoGadgetWebserver/0.3. (maybe that's a customised header). It serves up an XHTML page on the home page. The code is very well written. Although it uses Javascript, it has <script> .. <noscript> pairs. Works like a charm with w3m! Fast and powerful. This website is very well designed. It also appears to have a lot of additional features for GUI browsers. Plus it will let visually impaired people listen to the passages!

And very scholarly. It allows you to search by chapter and verse, by passage, keyword search or topical index. I specify chapter and verse and it offers a choice of hundreds of bibles (19 in English -- all the major ones). I choose the King James version and in the blink of an eye I am presented with the verses I was looking for:

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."

Hmm ... normally Revelations puts me in an Armegeddon sort of mood! However, this quotation is not very apocalyptic.

But wait! There is more! Yes ... you're not going to believe this ...

This Page Is Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional!

(Gasp!)

Congratulations, Biblegateway.com, you get five stars! I predict that you will spend a long time at the top of the pile. Especially when the competition is so hopeless!


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Copyright     2005, Gerry Patterson. All Rights Reserved.