(no subject)

[jjjiii]

Earlier today...

Dev: OK, I'm done with all the stuff for $newsite that we have to do. There were a few PDF files that $customer wants us to host and put links to on some of the pages, which haven't been created by them yet, so we're waiting on that, but that's OK because we're 3 days ahead of schedule...

IT Supervisor: OK, well until we get the real files, can you make up some blank PDFs and put them up, to give the customer an idea what the site will look like once we have everything? That way, we just have to post the files once we get them.

Dev: Uh, I could, but I could also just put the links up there and wait for the PDFs to come, and let IIS serve a good ole 404 like it's supposed to until the content arrives, and save myself a lot of pointless work.

IT Supervisor: We don't want them thinking that the site's broken. How long would it take you to make the files?

Dev: Not long, but I don't know what they're going to be named yet, so --

IT Supervisor: You come up with the names of the files, and then tell $contributor that you want them named what you come up with.

Dev: I don't see the point, but I'm certainly capable of doing so.

IT Supervisor: Good then.

I think I'm gonna work on other tasks for the next 3 days, and if the PDFs don't come in, then I'll put the dummy files up as requested. I certainly don't need to be punished for getting everything I've been asked to do completed 3 days ahead of schedule by doing pointless, unnecessary work, when I have plenty of other projects to be working on.

Comments

[ofstarstuff.livejournal.com]

Seriously - an IT supervisor saying so? Have them ever worked on site construction? You have a thousand other things to deal with, jeez. A few 404 links that are actually performing their function won't hurt anyone.

Ah, my faith in the humanity. It ebbs away.

[bekscilla.livejournal.com]

Uuugh, it's just disgusting hearing that sort of thing. All that will happen is people start complaining about the empty pdfs. How is this a surprise?

[jjjiii]

Good point; I suppose I'll have to add some sarcastic content to the PDF to make clicking on it worthwhile, and endure the complaints from the slow-poke contributors whom I'll inevitably insult as a result.

[bekscilla.livejournal.com]

I was thinking you *could* make them say something like "This page is a placeholder whilst the data is being created by ****. Thankyou for your patience!"

It's nice, without being narky, but *they* get the blame for it not being there, not you.

[jjjiii]

I was toying with a giant "bomb" error icon with the words

Wrong LINK! Oh NOES!!!1 You killed the intarweb!

In like giant Chicago font and maybe a marquee effect (except I don't think you can do marquee on a pdf).

[squigit.livejournal.com]

How about a PDF of your 404 error?

[jjjiii]

Hmm, if only I could make that recurse *infinitely*...

[kgasso.livejournal.com]

Now you've got me thinking (and that's a dangerous thing).

It would be rather easy with the right PHP modules and fonts installed on a web server to generate a context-accurate PDF on the fly... to display as a site's 404. I'm pretty sure that doing something like this might spell the End of the Internets. Sounds like fun. :)

[jjjiii]

As specific and exacting and not-supported-by-W3C as our customer have been, I've often joked about serving entire web sites in PDF format so that people can finally display exactly the fonts they want with exactly the page layout they want, and have it look the same on any platform or browser.

I also like the idea of serving every page as a giant image map of the designer's mock-up. It seems like it's really what they want sometimes.

[jon787.livejournal.com]

Don't forget exactly as slow

[mattcaron.livejournal.com]

See, whenever I run across these folks who want to use non-W3C standard stuff, I just ask "okay, how much of your target market are you willing to lose?"

"What?"

"Well, this change breaks Safari and Konqueror, so you'll be losing about 5% of the market - basically 95% of the Mac market and maybe 25% of the Linux market, because your site won't work for them".

"ZOMG! We can't do that! We need monies!"

"My point exactly".

[kenbrody.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'm surprised you don't get "but 95% of the Internet is IE, and if the rest can't be bothered to use it, we don't need them!"

Though I do like your question. It's properly phrased to get them to stop and think for a moment. "'Lose'? What do you mean 'lose'?"

[mattcaron.livejournal.com]

Exactly. It's all in the marketing of the question. :-)

[japester.livejournal.com]

yes, you replace the default 404 'file' with a script which can identify the missing file, generate it, or something with random content, and then display it.

you can do custom 404s for specific directoreis too ... just for fun and giggles

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

OK, I'm done

First error :)

[jjjiii]

Sigh. True.