Re: Omniglossa

On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:15:42 -0500, <li_sasxsek@...> wrote:

> Omniglossa is here.  I've finally had a little time to write the
> scripts to make it work on the web.  It's still a bit crude, and
> searches only work in English, but it is working.
That's a very nice site indeed. I do have a few user-friendliness
questions.

Why do you enforce an ordered list of fonts? It's the sort of information
where any knowledgeable user is going to have already their browser fonts
configured to their taste, and any knowledgeunable user would not know
what to do with the information anyway.

Likewise, why do you enforce font sizes? I have similar usability and
accessibility reasons for asking.

The Javascript is fairly wasteful, and potentially could end up harming
you more than it helps you.

Sure, you've spent time, brainpower, and probably money to make your
database. However, nobody who wants to steal your hard work is going to
bother using right-click to do it, and anybody who wants a snippet for
legitimate fair use is either going to end up cursing your name, or
changing their browser config to confound you.

Anything that uses 'document.write(unescape(' could (though probably
should not) be considered an attempted attack, and could end up with your
site being RBLed by people with far more control over the Internet than
you have, and/or blocked by the security preferences of your (putative)
users' browsers.

That said, the actual content of the page (layout and security issues
aside) is excellent.

To summarise my feelings: Great content, shame about the site. Consider
using CSS instead of explicit styles. Please use less-totalitarian
styling. Try to avoid client-side scripting unless you really do need live
interaction with the user.

Sorry if this comes off as hostile, but there really isn't a useful
non-hostile way to suggest these things,



Paul





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