The Most EVIL hing you can do on Your Website

Artistic representation of the Devil. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I didn't want to rant about it, but after the "umpteenth" time trying to use right click (this time to check my spelling errors), and could not, I had to say something.

Disabling right-click is EVIL!

First, it does NOT prevent copying, I can easy bypass that by using the toolbar and getting the info via the "view source" there. I can STILL download images, and copy text that way. It's not that hard. Then there are some browsers that now disable the ability to disable right click anyway.

And then there are add-ons like Evernote. To test this point, I use my Evernote and copied the ENTIRE page of someone who disabled right click. Photos, text, everything. All I have to do is copy the photo and paste it into a photo editor and Viola! I now have the photo you thought you have blocked people from copying.

Second, it makes potential readers very, very angry. And you won't like it when your readers get angry. Why? Because there's actually legitimate reasons why people use right click... Like checking for spelling errors.

To be quite honest, I'm not as good of a speller as I used to be. I got lazy thanks to spell-check. Although, usually it's the weird spellings like conscience and subconscious. I usually mistakenly spell subconscious like conscience with a "sub" (subconscience), which is wrong. That's where spell-check is supposed to come in, until someone disables right-click.

Then there's the search features. If you talk about string theory, which I'm not exactly familiar with, I will highlight "string theory", use right-click, then click on "search in Google" or "Wikipedia" depending on what my search box is set to in Firefox. In a disabled right-click blog, I will first click on the "close tab" button, and still do a Google search because now I'm curios, but it's not likely I'll be participating in your blog anytime soon.

Another complaint of something I haven't used, but I guess some browsers use "gestures" and I suspect this has a lot to do with the IPad. I've heard of people complaining in other blogs about how they can't use gestures on pages that disabled right click. Essentially making your site useless.

And finally, it won't kill you if people copy sections of your text. I mean people who use it for future reference, like putting into Evernote, or to entice THEIR readers to click on a link to YOUR site. Isn't that what you would want?

FYI, click on brainyquote.com, highlight a favorite quote, copy, then paste it into a text editor and see what happens. When you paste it into a text editor, it also pastes a reference link. I happen to LOVE this. It saves me time on trying to remember where I got that information and I have considered using it on my own site.

Another link on this subject:
http://www.sitepoint.com/dont-disable-right-click/

Related articles

• Web-design Ideas That Everyone Ought To Know About (nataliathecheetah497.wordpress.com)
• What's the Point of Copyright anyway? (mometek.blogspot.com)

Refresher Courses

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Before I start any serious course in web development, I thought I would first take some refresher courses in HTML and CSS via Code Academy.

It’s quite repetitive, but easy to follow. The repetitiveness does help to make sure what you learn sticks. This is something anyone can learn, and I definitely recommend it, even for homeschooling.

You can see what other links I recommend on my Resources page.

Learning Web Development

My husband thought it would be a good idea to sign up to some website to see if I could win a $10,000 scholarship to go back to school. So he signed me up (after asking me) which included filling out survey after survey from colleges that I probably might be interested in going to and finally get a Bachelor's degree in Web Development.

Of course we were inundated with phone calls from these colleges and I let them make their sales pitch. I finally settled on one college that seemed to have the flexibility that I needed to be able to get my degree online. It was accredited, so my degree would have been “legit”, unlike the home course in computer programming I took years ago. I did it mostly to get my own computer without having to pay the entire price up front as NRI allowed me to make arrangements for payments.

I narrowed my choices down to one and ask for the price. Considering My home course was only $3000 with everything, including a PC with all the latest bells and whistles and Mike when to ITT Tech for $13,000 in ‘82, but he had to go onto campus, I figure that an online course that included materials (didn’t ask if it included a new laptop, but had minimum administrative costs as I would be online instead of on campus, would probably go for about $20,000

Wrong!

$59,000. That’s right. $59,000 for a piece of paper that says that I can do what I’m told. Granted, businesses who are hiring will be looking for that specifically as that’s what colleges are for, but I don’t plan on working for someone else.

Bragging rights would be cool, but for that price, it doesn’t seem worth that much. Especially since the last time I checked, having a BS in anything doesn’t seem to have that much weight in the comments section, even if you use all caps.

So, I opted out, again, and for pretty much the same reason why I opted out of VT Tech 20 years ago. I didn’t want to go into (even more) debt with something that I may or may not use. “But what about learning the skills?” I can almost hear some people ask, “Don’t you need the skills?”

Yes, if you want to achieve anything, you need to learn the skills for whatever you plan on using to make money, but some skills, like web development, can be self taught. Of course, I don’t think I would go to a self taught brain surgeon to have a tumor removed. However, I’m not too concerned about accidentally killing someone with some bad code, or a zombie virus taking over because I didn’t follow proper procedure in hygiene before debugging an app.

So, I’m going to teach myself web development. Unfortunately, the shortcoming on being self taught is the curriculum, or the lack thereof. Since I’m not paying someone else to do it, I have to come up with a plan, or at least find a site that has some semblance of a plan. When I do, I’ll post it here on MOMETEK.

Free! From... Microsoft?

Microsoft has changed.  When I was growing up, getting anything free from Microsoft was as fictitious as Santa bringing in free gifts. Well, almost. One of them is real (explain that to your kids).

Recently, I had downloaded free "Live Essentials" and I was impressed by the quality of the programs.  The old adage "you get what you paid for" is no longer true. I've already blogged about Windows Live Writer which I switch back and forth with Scribefire - depending on my mood. Live Writer is pretty decent as it supports many blog formats including Blogger and Wordpress, two of the most popular blogging sites. Unfortunately, (and this is the real reason why I switch), Live Writer does not support Tumbr or Posterous.

Recently, as I was hunting for a better free, web design software, I came across this gem from microsoft: Visual Web Developer It's a bit over the top for just making templates (as in templates for modx) but if you are interested in starting a whole new website from scratch, this would be an excellent product for you to try it. So far, I'm impressed. It has so many features that I haven't discovered yet. I don't think I will be using it much, yet, as it's a bit over the top for what I need.

As a matter of fact, I'll probably stick to Kompozer - which, by the way, was aquired by Mozilla.  How much do you want a bet that we will finally start seeing some improvements?  They've already improved their website.

Another little know WYSIWYG editor is Amaya. Amaya is made by w3.org which sets the standards for website design. If you are within their standards, then the majority of your audience can view your website the way you intend them to view it.

The problem with Amaya and Kompozer is that it's difficult to be "cutting edge" Both don't support HTML5 tags, but you can always put the tags in anyway. It just won't show up in the preview.
I have a page with some freebies for you to check out.  These are all programs that I have used and like.  It's here: http://mometek.blogspot.com/p/free-software.html.