jemjabella

A Real Example of a Bad Web Developer

The long time readers amongst you may remember me reviewing a chap called Ronald Treitner (of designbytreitner.com) in February last year. The guy bases his entire reputation on the fact he validates his pages. However, I made it clear in my review of his website that validated or not, he still sucks epic balls as a designer and developer.

Shortly after my review, as well as fixing some of the newbie errors I pointed out, Mr Ronald Treitner published an article on "HOW TO SPOT BAD WEB SERVICES". He made some vague references to habits that I may or may not have had in an attempt to patch up his clearly damaged ego.

Given that I'm in the process of writing a new review, I went back through some of my old material to try and ensure I was covering new ground. (You guys need new things to learn, right?) Out of curiosity, I checked in on old Treitner, and found that he has in fact updated his article, and is now directly referencing me (under the heading "A Real Example of a Bad Web Developer"):

There is a person in the UK that has their own web site which is centered around blogging, it offers bad opinions on how things should be done only his way. Unlike other web sites that actually offer their services this dumbass only links to other sites, attempts to pick on others, and calls himself "Ultimately better than you." So here I am going to hold him to his own words and assume as far as web developers go he is the best.

He goes on to tell his readers (hahaha) that I'm giving fellow web developers a bad name, listing a zooming issue as the basis for his argument. I've no idea if he's referring to this layout or not as I couldn't replicate the issue (with text zooming both on and off), rendering his key point totally redundant. He continues to back up his "argument" with the fact that I offer no validation links (a totally useless practise that stopped being trendy about 5-6 years ago, and irrelevant as my pages validate 99.9% of the time with no effort whatsoever).

Apparently I'm a 'dumbass' and a 'dope' that offers no work of my own (obviously the links to my other projects are not sufficient, and my Bella~ scripts used by thousands and thousands of webmasters are a figment of our imagination) and, despite my claims to the contrary, my blog script is not my own:

he modeled his blog after an easy to maintain free script he probably got from another developer who offered his script free for others to use

...although I'm sure the likes of Amelie and Mat — who have both seen my code — would be willing to back me up.

Still talking about my blog, he claims:

He uses a very basic script for his blog, one you have to email him your comments and he adds in your comments if he feels like it.

...totally misunderstanding the basic premise of moderation-based blogging systems and their uncanny ability to, uh.. hold comments in moderation until approved? His insinuation that I only add comments "if I feel like it" grossly distorts the truth, which is that I only approve comments from people who use a real e-mail address. This in itself is backed up by the fact that there are many a hate-filled comment on my blog, although I admit it's the entertainment that keeps me publishing them.

He ends his argument referencing my decision last year to remove the contact form from my website, suggesting it's because I don't like people commenting on my site. Quite opposite, in fact, I actively encourage people to review me (although few seem willing to try, for some reason). Unfortunately, I had to remove the contact form due to the huge amount of support requests I was receiving, as a well respected developer and an expert on many subjects. How's that for an egotistical statement, eh? Of course, everyone knows I'm still reachable via e-mail (and my e-mail address couldn't be more obvious).

Of course, I don't need to answer Ronald Treitner's accusations, nor do I fear my reputation is at stake from a two-bit "web designer" with a bitter grudge against me. However, we all know that I cherish every opportunity to put misguided fools in their place, especially when they make the assumption that I am anything but a woman.

Your move, Mr Treitner.

Do me a Favour?

One of my Snarkers is up for vote in the WPWebHost Best WordPress Design Awards. I don't normally get involved in these sorts of online voting/award things because it's just egotistical back-patting (and by that I really mean that I'm not good enough to be entered) but Mimi mentioned that the guy coming in second is bribing his visitors to vote for him:

If you vote for me, leave your name in the comments below. I will do a drawing later (May 1)(May 7, sorry my misunderstanding) and give away some free software from MacHeist 3. I'm adding to the free software list a free copy of Tweetie.

I think that's verging on cheating, and so I'm happy to back a genuinely talented artist to help her hold on to her number one spot. If you think that the hand-drawn designs of AmourChaleur are as super spiffingly great as I do, you can vote by following these instructions (requires JavaScript):

• Pop over to the Best WordPress Design Awards post
• Scroll down until you see the 'Best Hand-Drawing' category'
• Click the option for "Amour Chaleur"
• Click 'Vote'

It's as easy as that. You only have 2 days though, so the quicker the better :)

Update (5th May): Rogie has very kindly updated his post to reflect his decision to remove the software offer, and has offered to give his winnings to the runner up (Dayna) should he win. Very admirable move. :)

Snark is Alive

Due to Jacky's inclination towards professionalism and all that jazz (and the best of luck to her, of course) our beloved Snark has moved to a new home... a new domain, a new host and a new admin - me :)

If you've been waiting for it to come back up, go post! If you haven't a bloody clue what I'm on about.. go and join, because I rock and you all love me, right?

Thank You Internet Peoples

Thank you all for the well wishes, congratulations, advice and support on my last entry, and via e-mail/twitter. I can see that my bastard child has some expectations to live up to. ;) For the record, I'm sure that — despite the heathen, unmarried environment into which we're bringing this child (with lesbian grandparents no less) and the clear lack of sex education in Britain which led to this terrible oversight — Karl and I will be able to manage just fine. Anyway...

I hate to disappoint so early, but I don't have any intentions of becoming a 'mommy blogger'. My thoughts on personal/familial privacy aren't going to change because Karl super-spermed me. Obviously, like every other part of my life, it's inevitable that I will mention my ongoing pregnancy and (hopefully) the birth/following years of horror/sleepless nights/all that other terrifying crap we're in for, but I'm not going to suddenly dedicate my blog to the sprog. (Yep, that means plenty more cat posts.)

On that note: in totally unrelated news, Wednesday 29th was the 7th anniversary of my website. Go me!