Evil 404 page

[pendell]

Seen on screwtape.com (http://www.screwtape.com/404/default.html?hjdkfhdkfhiefeihf). I wonder if Xykon's web page has something similar?

Respectfully,

Brian P.

PS. Does someone know of a good Latin-to-English translator? The small text is easily visible with 'view page source' but I don't read Latin.

[Douglas]

I couldn't find any online translators that would actually translate it whole for you, but there are a few that give dictionary results for some of the words. From the little I could understand of the results, I think it's a Shakespeare quote. Not sure which play, though.

[Brother Oni]

It's the second paragraph of the Lorem ipsum placeholder text (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum):



The text is derived from sections 1.10.32-33 of Cicero's De finibus bonorum et malorum (On the Ends of Goods and Evils, or alternatively [About] The Purposes of Good and Evil )

[Penguinsushi]

This may be slightly off-topic, but: The Screwtape Letters is a wonderful book, but that website is terrible for a wide variety of reasons. Somewhere between cringing and eye-rolling.

I'm not sure exactly what qualifies as an by "evil" 404 page (except, perhaps, for the annoying sound effects), but I've seen a fair number of amusing/creative/snarky/etc 404's.

penny arcade engrish (http://www.penny-arcade.com/nothere)
HSR making up page names (http://www.homestarrunner.com/nothere.html)
DS cartoon 404 (http://www.dieselsweeties.com/nothere)
Failblog's 4-0-fail (http://failblog.org/nothere)
my html crisis (http://www.penguinsushi.com/index.php?page=missing)

I've seen quite a few others too, but I can't think of any more off the top of my head...

~PS

[TSGames]

Since it's here....

Here's an informative 404 (http://www.viagra.com/404.aspx?;http://www.viagra.com/viagra-prescribing-information.aspx)

and here's a few good 404s (http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/60-really-cool-and-creative-error-404-pages/)

And a better one (http://www.homestarrunner.com/systemisdown.html).

Not quite a 404, but kinda amusing (http://www.servererror.net/).

[pendell]

This may be slightly off-topic, but: The Screwtape Letters is a wonderful book, but that website is terrible for a wide variety of reasons. Somewhere between cringing and eye-rolling.


Reeaally.

As it turns out, PenguinSushi, I happen to know that web site's designer personally.

Can you tell me, specifically, what's awful about it? I will pass that information on to him. I will pull no punches. If he's made a sucky web site for a client, I think he would consider it a favor if someone were to tell him that, and why.

You see, I'm a software engineer. I'm in the middle of writing up code that will allow automated devices to communicate with a server over a power line. What makes a web site pretty isn't my specialty.


ETA: Now that's just mean (http://huml.org/404.shtml).

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Castaras]

I'm so depressed. (http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~neal/humor/marvin-the-server-404.html)

[Penguinsushi]

Reeaally.

As it turns out, PenguinSushi, I happen to know that web site's designer personally.

Can you tell me, specifically, what's awful about it? I will pass that information on to him. I will pull no punches. If he's made a sucky web site for a client, I think he would consider it a favor if someone were to tell him that, and why.

You see, I'm a software engineer. I'm in the middle of writing up code that will allow automated devices to communicate with a server over a power line. What makes a web site pretty isn't my specialty.


ETA: Now that's just mean (http://huml.org/404.shtml).

Respectfully,

Brian P.

*Shrug*, a lot of this is a "to each his own" thing, but I can tell you why I personally don't like it. Also, no offense was intended. Looking at my original post, I should have been more careful to avoid the statement of personal opinion as objective truth.

My first recoil was due to the sound effects - which are, in my opinion, always, always a bad, annoying thing. HOWEVER, to be fair, I didn't find sound effects anywhere else on the site, so that's not too bad. I'm a web developer myself, and I don't criticize much of anything else on the site on that score - its mostly about aesthetics.

Most of the rest of my dislike is what I would describe as "cheese factor". "The audio drama the devil doesn't want you to hear", the altering navigation (which also makes the site *marginally* less usable, but that's kinda picking nits), the faux-creepiness, i think it just all rubs me the wrong way. Without getting into religion, the wonderful thing about The Screwtape Letters is its illustration of the subtleties of evil - a concept which the site itself doesn't reflect in any way.

Probably, I'm just a curmudgeon. If it gets more people into Lewis and this book, wonderful. If it's the kind of site the client wanted (which it more than likely was), I think he did a pretty good job. If the audio book is meant to redefine the feel of the work, then all is well. It just clashes with my experience with it.

~PS

Edit: Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I may be unfairly biased due to the prominent "Focus on the Family" tag. Not a terribly huge fan of that organization.

[pendell]

I understand completely. I react that way myself to particular brands. Seeing the Microsoft tag on anything, no matter how good, makes me a tiny bit queasy.

Especially since I just wasted several weeks of my life on a hopeless VB6 to VB.NET conversion. GAAAAAAATTESSSS!!!

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[pendell]

Well, I sent the feedback and got this response:




I agree that sound is usually bad, which is why I included it. It's SUPPOSED to be annoying and unhelpful. Part of the purpose of the site is to represent Hell as the worst, most opaque and deliberately hostile bureaucracy in the universe. :)

Your friend worried about being too rude. I thought he was fairly level and nice with the criticisms, especially when he said part of it was personal preference and part of it was dislike of Focus. I got quite a few responses to the site that actually said, in just so many words, "I would really like this site and/or audio production if it wasn't produced by Focus." Too bad, but everyone's entitled to their own opinion.

You might mention to him that the whole them of "the devil doesn't want you to see this" is lifted directly from the original book.

Thanks for the feedback!

...

Oh, post this one:

http://tinsanity.net/404



Warning: If you follow the link, turn the speakers down. WAY DOWN.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Penguinsushi]

I agree that sound is usually bad, which is why I included it. It's SUPPOSED to be annoying and unhelpful. Part of the purpose of the site is to represent Hell as the worst, most opaque and deliberately hostile bureaucracy in the universe. :)


Ok, I'm cool with that...

...aaaaaand now my brain is trying to find ways of making it worse...


You might mention to him that the whole them of "the devil doesn't want you to see this" is lifted directly from the original book.

I had a feeling that might get thrown back at me. Heh. It did sound a little familiar (sans the "audio-drama" part), but I remembered it being said about the book rather than in it. Still, I was unable to find my copy of the book after a 15-minute search (to my shame), so I'll concede that point as my memory may be mistaken. I'll certainly grant that that theme is present, but that particular line reads a bit too much like a tabloid cover IMO.

~PS

[John Cribati]

This one is evil. (http://www.bk.com/404)

[Brother Oni]

As it turns out, PenguinSushi, I happen to know that web site's designer personally.

Then how come you had to ask us to source the Latin text you found? :smallconfused:

Unless this is a very roundabout ploy of generating traffic for the site, which which case, bravo! A machination worthy of a low level villain. :smallbiggrin:

[Aidan305]

PS. Does someone know of a good Latin-to-English translator? The small text is easily visible with 'view page source' but I don't read Latin.

I don't believe that is latin, though there is certainly some quasi-latin stuff in there. The line to look at to understand what it actually is though, is the following:

"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet"

Yup, it's good old fashioned Lorum Ipsum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum)

[pendell]

Then how come you had to ask us to source the Latin text you found? :smallconfused:

Unless this is a very roundabout ploy of generating traffic for the site, which which case, bravo! A machination worthy of a low level villain. :smallbiggrin:

No, no. Not at all. I just never thought of it. My first thought, when seeing Latin was, "find an online translator." My second thought was "Ask the folks at GiantITP." There are a lot of very smart people here with good connections. Surely someone has an online Latin translator.

The idea "ask the original designer".... DUH! It's one of those things that in retrospect is obvious.

Then again, if I want to be an evil overlord, maybe I should stop admitting stupidity and pretend to be really, really shrewd. ... so you didn't see any of those paragraphs, did you? :)

Respectfully,

Brian P.