Questions & Answers

Why Don't You Put More Images On Your Site?

There are various reasons for my choice not to have a website using complicated designs and for the very little use of images:

Give me a sheet of paper, with paint and a brush, or pencils, or whatever, and I won't be able to draw a stone to save my own life, so forget about elaborate web design.
I am not a visual artist. I like my site to look harmonious, but I have no graphic talent whatsoever. I am a writer, so my site is mostly about writing.
I have a tendency, when I come upon a new site, to completely overlook the top image, or pretty much any image for that matter, and skip straight to the text. On a new site, I'll search for the navigation immediately, on some rare sites, I'll look at the blog and/or updates. I thus give very little importance to images on the web.
I am certain that a website can look great without relying heavily on images. I use a lot of CSS to add some prettiness to my site.
I am certain I will attract more happy visitors with a lot of interesting reads than with a lot of crappy graphics.
I do not feel the need to make yet another goddamn blend of some random pop star.

Why Don't You Use Javascript?

I avoid Javascript like the plague. I know it can have some advantages, mostly to fight spam. I however have developed a strong hatred for this language, because I have too often seen it being abused:

Reproducing browser functions (back and forward links, print, etc.)
Replacing much faster loading CSS
Creating goddamn pointless pop up windows
Blocking various functions (status bar, right click, highlighting/selecting text)

Why Don't You Get A Domain?

Simply put: I don't have enough money for it.

Don't tell me "Get a job, you dumbass!" I did have a job last summer and my mother has one—my father is currently retired. I however have entered university in September. I have to pay for an apartment, for food, for school supplies, for the subway, for everything an 18-year-old girl might have to pay.

Whereas I would really love to own a domain, I find it important to set myself priorities. Funpic is an excellent free host: it supports both PHP and MySQL and it sets no limit in space and bandwidth usage. If I were to get a domain, the only real advantage over Funpic would be a shorter URL and the absence of the bloody advertisements they added recently.

I will probably get a domain once I have finished school and have a stable job. Lacking money is a great fear of mine and, for the moment, I am saving my money for non-entertainment purposes, assuming you consider studying—and later on, working—in the cinema industry isn't entertainment.

Why Don't You Put "Valid" Signs?

I am a strong advocate of accessibility. I believe it is very important for any website to be accessible to the largest possible amount of internet users. However, there are two types of visitors on a website:

Those who do know of accessibility and, if interested in finding out about the validation of my website, will verify it on their own, by looking at my source or by using a validating tool. Of course, there are also those who do not care at all and will either overlook this detail or go "yet another validation nazi".
Those who do not know of accessibility. I must admit I would love them to, but a lot of people will probably just go "Valid XHTML? What's this about?" and move on with their lives.

Why Do You Talk Like A Book?

I am a perfectionnist. My OCD hates when I do any error, and loves when I write well. I love using the correct word and hate using chat speak on a website that could be visited by people who wouldn't understand it. Not all of my visitors are 12-year-old English speakers with a strong passion for chat rooms.

Why Aren't Your Scrollbars Colored?

It is utterly pointless.
It would invalidate my CSS.
It would add an extra 200+ bytes to my stylesheet for a rather pointless—and inexistent—decoration.
I dare hoping that I will get visitors of such a quality that they will be able to appreciate the content of my website rather than being disgusted by these so called ugly default scrollbars.
I have yet to find a person who looks at a scrollbar for long enough for its color to actually matter.
Since I do not use iframes or scrolling divs, the scrollbar appears only on the right and "borders" the layout rather than being a part of it. Your browser and operating system decided on its color, since they decided on its very existence seeing there wasn't enough room to display the entire content. Get over it.

Where Did You Learn All Of This?

Coding

I took my first HTML lessons on crappy tutorials found on generic personal sites. I then had a look at actual tutorial sites. These days, when I want to learn something new or verify the accuracy of my coding, I use (in alphabetical order):

Languages

French is my mother tongue. I use it in my daily life to communicate with real human beings, and with most other animals.

English is here—in Quebec—thought in schools as a second language. I started learning it at the age of 8. When I became very interested in the web, it was not long before I visited far more websites in English than in French. I also started watching movies mostly in English. This is where I learnt most of the language, with a little bit of help from school, my bilingual sister and dictionaries.

Where's The Interaction?1?!

I believe that a lot of people can feel entertained by reading some texts or looking at pictures, without needing to guess who is the celebrity on this blurred image.

Providing my texts and the rare photographs I have taken and find worthy of showing the world is my contribution to this site. Commenting about this content is yours. You can comment on the blog, in the guestbook and in most subpages. This is interaction I find much more valuable than my receiving of 20 weekly "I Guessed The Animal!!!" emails.

What Script Do You Use For...

Apart from the blog and the guestbook, this site is entirely hand-coded, no script used. The blog is powered by Wordpress and the guestbook is powered by BellaBook.

How Can You Have Joined So Many Fanlistings?

I have been surfing The Fanlisting Network since 2002. There are two ways I can join a fanlisting: either by thinking "OMG I must totally joined the fanlisting for x", after which I visit the network, find the fanlisting and join it, or by surfing the network and finding which fanlistings I'm interested into, either in the category updates or in the actual Listed Fanlistings section. Either way, I process this way:

I skip what I don't know of. For example, an actor I have never heard of, a song I haven't heard or a dish I have never tasted.
I don't join fanlistings for things I am indifferent to.
I don't join fanlistings for things I hate.

So, yes, all the fanlistings I have joined respect the following criteria:

I know the subject
I enjoy the subject

I know of the subject means simply what is says. I have seen or heard the person's or group's performance, I have heard the song, I have watched or still watch the show, I have seen the movie, I can recognize the color, I have read about this mythological figure, etc.