A usability standard proposal and a rule for forum owners.

You know how the nice people put

a warning when they link to a PDF? I like that. You know what else should have a warning associated with it?

JAVA!!! I cannot stand this: osphp.net’s 404 page includes an applet. It’s like punishing you for a 404. Do you know how LONG it takes for an applet to load on a Dell Dimension 2400 with 700-ish MB RAM? A LONG FREAKING TIME!

Please, if you’re making an error page, never ever include Java, Flash, or any other plugin-needing media (even QuickTime, you music-hungry people).

And if you link to any pages, DO NOT EVER EVER link to Java without a warning. For my sanity’s sake, and everyone else’s.

Forum owners: don’t make people wait to post. I’ve left many forums permanently for that. If I join, it’s likely because I wanted to reply to a post I saw. Reply now, not a day from now.

Yours in running-low-on-sanity,

Sam