Lessons for uncultured web developers • Hacker News Board

Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#51

Post by gsb » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 1:00 PM UTC

klodolph wrote: post #39

> Why are these US only? It’s a conundrum which we probably don’t regularly need to worry about, but it’s unusual all the same (I’d love to hear insight on why there’s no .us on these). History of the internet: it was invented as a US department of defense research project, and grew into the beast it is today. You could buy a .com address years before the internet existed outside the US. Note that .uk exists for the…

> You could buy a .com address years before the internet existed outside the US.

The .com tld was created in 1984, at which point there had already been international links for over a decade, so that doesn't really support the argument.

Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#52

Post by techdmn » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 1:00 PM UTC

k-mcgrady wrote: post #7

Good list, and interesting how at least half of the points are about localisation/internationalization. The date point was good I find that one very annoying. The easiest way to work it out on forums is usually to look at the previous post and see what number goes down (day). I didn't realise the mm/dd format was only officially used in two countries. I've never understood why it's use at all, it makes much more sens…

I prefer year-month-day. This extends logically into time, and plays well with regular math. Except for switching base every digit.

Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#53

Post by patdennis » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 1:04 PM UTC

klodolph wrote: post #39

> Why are these US only? It’s a conundrum which we probably don’t regularly need to worry about, but it’s unusual all the same (I’d love to hear insight on why there’s no .us on these). History of the internet: it was invented as a US department of defense research project, and grew into the beast it is today. You could buy a .com address years before the internet existed outside the US. Note that .uk exists for the…

The fact that the US doesn't use its country TLD is analogous to the way that the UK doesn't have to specify their country name on their postage stamps.

You get certain privileges for pioneering the development of a communications system, I guess.

Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#54

Post by robin_reala » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 1:40 PM UTC

RobAley wrote: post #20

TomGullen wrote: post #14

Pretty cool list. Small nit pick though: > In the UK, it’s all about .uk. I very rarely see .uk domains, most at .co.uk

I'm perhaps an odd case, because I work in academia in the area of government policy on health, but on a day-in day-out basis I see .nhs.uk, .gov.uk, .ac.uk, .org.uk and the occasional .mod.uk. As the parent of two toddlers, I'm starting to look at more and more .sch.uk and in my IT work I quite often see .net.uk and .nic.uk addresses.

The new UK Government site can be found at simply http://gov.uk

Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#55

Post by atirip » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 1:43 PM UTC

And there's one more: don't assume that name on credit card is written in 7-bit ASCII.

Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#56

Post by scoot » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 1:45 PM UTC

k-mcgrady wrote: post #7

Good list, and interesting how at least half of the points are about localisation/internationalization. The date point was good I find that one very annoying. The easiest way to work it out on forums is usually to look at the previous post and see what number goes down (day). I didn't realise the mm/dd format was only officially used in two countries. I've never understood why it's use at all, it makes much more sens…

Interestingly someone had the foresight to use dd/mm on the US customs and immigration forms handed out to arriving visitors. I guess then only visitors from Belize are likely to get caught out :-)

Does this practice extend to other official forms?

Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#57

Post by jp_sc » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 2:11 PM UTC

> 6. Country code top level domains give context

And are a pain to handle.

.com

- US$ 10 ~

- Many registar to choose (remember GoDaddy).

.xx

- US$ 40 ~

- Usually only one registar available, if you don't like it you're screwed

- Usually the most hideous admin interface, sometimes only functional in IE

Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#58

Post by vog » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 2:15 PM UTC

techdmn wrote: post #52

k-mcgrady wrote: post #7

Good list, and interesting how at least half of the points are about localisation/internationalization. The date point was good I find that one very annoying. The easiest way to work it out on forums is usually to look at the previous post and see what number goes down (day). I didn't realise the mm/dd format was only officially used in two countries. I've never understood why it's use at all, it makes much more sens…

I prefer year-month-day. This extends logically into time, and plays well with regular math. Except for switching base every digit.

Also, this is an ISO standard (ISO 8601).

Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#59

Post by DanBC » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 2:36 PM UTC

andyjohnson0 wrote: post #29

Another lesson that might be useful is not to assume that the week starts on a particular day. I live in the UK and the general convention here is the the week on Monday. In find calendars (presumably designed in the US) that start on Sunday particularly frustrating and error-prone. Not being able to customise this is uncultured. Different cultures have different conventions, and if a seven-day week is the norm then…

> I live in the UK and the general convention here is the the week on Monday.

Uh, no. The work week starts on Monday, but the week starts on Sunday. The link you provide supports that.

I agree with everything else you say though. It's useful to know that some people don't work Fridays but do work Sundays, or some people have other customs.

Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#60

Post by TylerE » Mon, Sep 10, 2012, 2:37 PM UTC

panacea wrote: post #21

losvedir wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is there a reason mm/dd was chosen in the US I don't know which came first, but it agrees with the way we say it out loud. "Today is September tenth." So, maybe that's why? And I think in other countries, it's said the other way around, right? "Today is the tenth of September?" That would actually be okay sounding in the U.S., too, though a little uncommon. Can you say "Today is tenth September"? That sounds very w…

September the Tenth, or Tenth of September. Both read well, and when we use shorthand we use a "/" in place of the/of. It makes more sense to order consistently by unit. So day month > day < year seems a bit silly.

I agree, but I think d/m/y is _equally_ silly.

YMD is clearly the thinking person's choice. It's the one that naturally sorts in lexicographic order, and also naturally extends to YMDHMS.