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Klaas

WFG Retired
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Posts posted by Klaas

  1. Hmmm doesn't look so promising imho. The marketing and previews just sound exactly like before Hitman 2 & 3: Great graphics, lots of guns and many new features and exciting missions. But in the end it's actually just the same old Hitman game with some graphic updates and nothing new regarding features or missions, atleast nothing groundbreaking.

  2. You can use AJAX for this.

    This is basicly javascript interacting with the server (eg. PHP) using RPC IIRC. This means that for example javascript sends a bunch of XML to some kind of XML parser that launches functions with arguments based on that XML. This is done by using a function called XMLHTTPRequest IIRC.

    More info on that here: http://www.ajaxian.com/

    Problem is though that you can't just do that with any URL. You need to have control over that URL, eg. it has to be script that accepts XML-RPC requests.

    But why don't you use PHP for example? It won't happen asynchronous like with AJAX but atleast it works :P

    Edit:

    Hmmm actually this can work.

    What you can do is making a PHP function that fetches the contents of an URL you give it. Then you can interact with that function using AJAX. I don't know anything practical about AJAX though, so for code examples you should have a look at Ajaxian or maybe sitepoint.com.

  3. Don't know exactly, I think it's about $3600.

    Wow, 2 hours isn't much. Designing and coding a layout usually takes around 20-30 hours in the pre-evaluation phase, and add around 10 hours for changes the client wants after evaluation in my case.

    I guess it all depends on what you deliver. I usually make around 3-6 mockups and let the client chose one, so that's quite a bit of work. Coding takes most of the time because it's all semantic xhtml and css plus print/handheld stylesheets, usability tweaks, etc.

    A middleman is indeed good if work is scarce in your region, but in Belgium and the Netherlands there's an abundance of work for webdesigners who know how to make so-called web 2.0 websites. Well there's even enough work for those who still make a website in Frontpage or let Illustrator generate all the code :P

  4. From $10 to $10.000, it really depends on the quality you deliver, where you live, how you market yourself and which kind of client it is.

    I started with €300/layout for non profit organisations. For a small company I ask €600 and currently my minimum is €1.000. For some those prices may be high, for others low, really depends on the situation.

    Most companies in my area ask around €600 which usually also includes a year hosting (nothing big though, eg. 10-50MB space, 500MB-2GB bandwith).

    I ask more now, even though I'm a student, because I can offer a lot more than most of those companies: one year of free email support and small changes, xhtml 1.0 strict and css2 compliant code, accessible and usable layout/design, unique and modern design, etc. Most other companies offer none of that while it's something more and more clients are looking for: a website that works well, not a presentation of designer/coder skills or a piece of junk that malfunctions for 50% of the visitors.

    There are a few companies on my level in Belgium and a client can usually expect to pay atleast €3000 for this, so I'm very cheap :S

    Anyway I suggest you should start with something between €200 and €500. It's best to ask the highest price you imagine the client would pay for this, or even go a bit higher because you can always lower your price if the client thinks it's too expensive. I've always done this and always got more money than I expected :P. Just make sure you emphasize what is important to the client, not what's important to you (eg. clients don't care if a site is W3C compliant or not, but they do care if it's accessible for all their potential visitors and will continue to work with new generations of browsers).

    And maybe the most important piece of advice I can give is that you should never get clients who try to get the lowest price possible. It has been proven endless times that these type of people will take most of your time and give you the least compensation for it. It will only make enjoy designing a lot less which is a lot worse than not earning €100 at this stage imho.

  5. Well I would really advice not to go through a middleman like getacoder or similar services or marketplace forums. Problem is that the clients there our only out to find the cheapest coder or designer there is and give very annoying deadlines. At the Sitepoint forums for example people are asking layouts for only $100 or sellings layouts for less then $50. Such prices are unacceptable imho, it's a waste of time.

    Getting real clients is much better. They are usually more lenient if you pick some from your family, friends or neighbourhood and most importantly it gives you the experience to promote your skills face to face. Next to that it also gives you the chance to build up some client relations and add some nice stuff to your portfolio.

    In the end all the money you earned as a student doesn't matter, what really matters is the experience and the portfolio you built.

  6. Depends which clients you get. I've never been looking for large companies because they usually set annoying deadlines and because they think a student doesn't deserve to get paid much.

    Maybe, just to try it out, look for some non profit organisations that need some web stuff done. They don't pay much but they usually don't set deadlines like "have this finished next month".

    Maybe I've been very lucky so far but the people I've worked for always asked me at least 2 months before the work needs to be finished, and usually it's somewhere between 3 and 6 months. I'm working for the univesity of Ghent now for example and it only has to be finished in October, so lots of time to be a perfectionist :P

  7. If you go on like this you shouldn't hesitate to find some small clients during vacations, that's really a nice piece of work :P

    There are only two things that I don't really like:

    The header ornament is too big, it takes up a lot of space and forces the user to scroll down more if you apply this.

    Maybe you either get rid of it because the left and right ornaments should be sufficient or you make all the ornaments smaller.

    Because it's so big it's also too distracting, it'll make your visitors focus more on the layout than the content.

    The blue bar looks a bit out of place and more importantly it contrasts too much which is really annoying if people will read text that's close to it. Using so much contrast will constantly draw the eye to the blue bar, it's a bit like an animated gif that's blinking in the corner of your eye.

    Maybe experiment with some other les contrasting colors and you definatly should remove the outer glow (or shadow?) which makes it look blury on the sides.

    Some other things you can change:

    The font size should be bigger. The titles look perfect but the regular font size is too small imho.

    There should be some branding (logo, site name, perhaps a tagline), but I guess you were planning to do that anyway :S

    Other than that I have no suggestions. If you develop this further it would even be a layout fit for the Zen Garden imho, which looks extremely good on a portfolio these days :P

    btw where did you get those ornaments, or did you make them yourself?

  8. Yep the Third Reich architecture is very impressive.

    What I like most is the flemish gothic architecture, romanesque architecture and art nouveau/art deco. I always marvel at the buildings Victor Horta designed, to me it's simply the essence of beauty: the nice blend of simplicity and organic shapes and especially the use of wood, glass and iron.

    If you ever visit Brussels be sure to check out his buildings, and not just the outside but also the inside. It's the interior of art nouveau buildings which is very impressive imho.

    Some pics:

    Interior of Horta's house

    House Solvay

    Stairs in Horta's house

    Comic museum in Brussels by Horta

    New England, the musical instrument museum in Brussels (not by Horta)

    The flemish gothic architecture is also quite impressive. Maybe it's because you find can such a wealth of gothic buildings here in such a small area.

    The difference with many other European countries is that in Flanders you won't only find gothic churches or castles but also many belfreys, guild houses (lakenhalles, buther's halls) and beguinages. We've had a lot of civic gothic architecture here, while in many other countries during the Middle Ages it was mostly religious.

    Some pics:

    Broodhuis in Brussels

    Brussels' town hall

    Lakenhalle of Ypres (completely destroyed during WW1, but rebuilt afterwards)

    Belfrey and lakenhalle of Ghent

    Gravensteen castle in Ghent

    The famous "Three towers" of Ghent

    View on some houses in Ghent

    The "rijtjes" in Bruges

    Holy Blood chapel in Bruges

    Again the rijtjes with the belfrey in the background in Bruges

    The cathedral of Antwerp, it's a huge tower

    "Het Steen" castle in Antwerp

    Townhall of Leuven

    That's just the tip of the iceberg. :P

  9. Last week (on that program with Jan Leyers on Canvas for Loonis) they showed a debate with a female journalist, a professor, a Dutch Muslim writer and a Belgian imam about those cartoons.

    Funny thing was that the writer was the one who was the most severe towards Muslims in general. He made some very good points saying that they can't get along with any form of criticism of humor directed to them. That's pretty bold coming from a Muslim but I'm very glad to hear this out of his mouth because many leftist Europeans are too scared of being called racist to say such things.

    His best point directed to the imam was that cultures are dynamic, not static and that the imams wish to keep Muslim culture static. I agree to that and it's a very constructive criticism towards Muslims imho, we should let them know that they can keep having their own culture but that there's nothing wrong with a little change.

    The imam was just moaning on about that it should not be allowed to picture Mohammed in such a way, never giving a reason why or never saying why they would be allowed such privilege and other people (blondes, Christians, atheists, women, you name it) not.

    Another cool thing I heard was that some Jewish cartoonists started a competition to draw cartoons about the Holocaust. Nice way of showing those Muslims that other cultures actually dare to criticise themselves and even laugh with the worst thing ever done to them.

  10. Anyhow, back on topic. Klaas, you said:

    Well, it's not just corrupt leaders. When the holy book that you follow says to kill and adjectate all infidels, and nothing about respecting them, then there's a fundamental problem with the religion and it's acceptance of others. It means that someone who follows the Qu'ran as it stands is also committing grave misdeeds against society. Fortunately, it takes a zealot to follow the Qu'ran to that level, but unfortunately, there's way too many of them out there willing to kill for their religion.

    Well your last sentence is exactly my point ;)

    It's true that the Qu'ran isn't a very loving and peaceful book but that doesn't mean every Muslim has to follow it to the letter.

    So the problem really is why they do happen to follow such backward teachings, not the book itself.

  11. Klaas stated on the first page that "There's a huge difference between an opinion and doing the act itself." I think it's interesting to note that Proverbs 23:7 states, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he." The golden rule, which is derived from Christ's teachings (particularly the parable of the Good Samaritan), relates to opinion. It can be reworded: "do to people what you think they should do to you." Christ himself said, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matt 5:27-28). Inner opinions reflect what you really want to do. Sure, there is a difference between committing in a murder and thinking about it as far as the outside view is, but on the inside its the same thing.

    Now I have to head out. Those were just some things that weren't ENTIRELY related but came to mind when reading all this.

    Of course if you say or think something you'll also want to do it. But that doesn't mean it will be done. Just look at all those politicians and their promises ;)

    Then there's also the possibility to take into account. If a few crazy Muslims cry for a holocaust on the Europeans in London it doesn't mean they'll do it because it's pretty hard to do something like that on your own.

    And then there's also exaggerating, populism, cynism, irony, etc. So not always someone believes or means what he sais.

  12. Does anyone happen to know an organisation offering free subversion hosting? I have to do a project for college together with a few fellow students so it would come in quite handy.

    Downside is that we can't take anything like Sourceforge because they require the source to be open. I'm not sure my college allows that, atleast not at this stage, so I'm looking for something that also allows non open source projects or academic projects.

  13. I believe Chavez has his reasons to act this way, especially after the so-called revolution against him several years ago when fascists took the power and only the USA recognised the new government.

    Chavez is a nationalist and he tries to put the natural resources (oil) under control of Venezuela again instead of multinationals, something the USA isn't quite happy about. I think the ball is in the USA's camp, eg. accepting that Venezuela wants full control over its own natural resources.

  14. I thought those cartoons were drawn as an answer to the fact that several cartoonists in Denmark are scared to draw anything related to Mohammed or Islam in books for children, because of the reaction it might cause among Muslims. So this newspaper took up the courage to do it.

    At first it didn't cause much trouble but a Danish Imam who was furious about it took the cartoons with him to the Middle East and showed those cartoons together with cartoons and photoshopped photos made by Danish neonazis about Mohammed and Islam.

    What I also consider pretty positive is the fact that not so many Muslims have been demonstrating against these cartoons, nor do many of them have comitted violence, so it's safe to say it's globally the fundamentalists who had a big problem with it, not the common people.

    Still, I've never been pro-Islam and I don't think this religion and culture as practiced in the Middle East and by many fanatics around here belongs in Europe. Europe has become a continent of free speech, mutual respect, equality and freedom, things that Islam has problems with (and fundemantalist Christians too).

    Islam, as with several other religions, is not the problem itself, but it's the religion being used to oppress other opinions that's the problem. And sad but true Islam is used all too often for this, either by men to oppress their wives or sisters, politicians to oppress their people (Iran, Saudi Arabia) or imams to keep the people ignorant.

    So instead of calling all Muslims terrorists or by calling everyone a racist who has something against Islam the West should better make sure that the common Muslim has no reason to follow the teachings by their corrupt and fascist imams or politicians.

  15. In fact there is a balance for most people regarding individual rights, I do believe the majority of the people work positive towards society and living together in harmony. The problem is those few black sheep that are constantly polarising society, and this imho includes praciticing Muslims and extreme right.

    But what makes me very angry is that the "knights of morality" are going so far in this balance that we aren't allowed anymore to protect it.

    For example, it is known that globally practicing Muslims treat their wives as second-class people. If somebody here dares to criticise that people call it racism or say that we did this too a century ago.

    What I'm getting at is that we've been too tolerant for this backward behaviour of a certain group of the Muslims and that we were very stupid to make it taboo to criticise other cultures and to say that not every culture is equal.

    We've coupled racism too much with criticism and protecting our liberal way of life, with the result that each form of negativity towards Islam is considered racism.

    The meaning of the word racism has degraded so much that we can't separate the real racists anymore from those who only question Islam or want to protect our freedom. It's like the 50s in the USA with the commie hunt.

  16. @Yiuel

    I totally agree that complete freedom isn't that good, but I don't think words or opinions should be forbidden. There's a huge difference between an opinion and doing the act itself.

    Look at what Blair proposed in the UK for example, a law that would make the ridiculisation or insulting a religion an offense. I mean, what's going on in this person's mind only thinking about proposing such a law, this is simply insane. And add to that that he's a socialist, the same people who were fighting the monopoly of the Church only several decades ago. How low can you go? Such laws really bring us close to Big Brother situations imho.

    I'm glad many European newspapers don't accept this intolerant and fascist behaviour of several Muslims and show their right of free speech. Several news papers have republished those cartoons as an answer and tomorrow many more will follow (most of Belgium's newspapers for example, even the pro multiculturalism ones).

  17. Well I don't think several small parties will work either. Just look at Belgium: in the federal government there are 5 parties (VLD, SPA, SPIRIT, PS, MR) and in the Flemish too (CD&V, N-VA, VLD, SPA, SPIRIT).

    We only have several small parties, and two big ones (PS and Vlaams Belang), all the others are quite small or in the case of CD&V they're a bit bigger because of them going together with N-VA. After 2007 we'll most likely have even more parties in the federal government, about 8 probably (CD&V, VLD, SPA, PS, MR, N-VA, SPIRIT, FDF).

    The result of our system is bad government practice, they are accomplishing nothing special, none of them has the guts to do something seriously and all they do is making a fuss out of nothing and nodding yes to the PS (cfr. BHV). The only thing our governments produce are weak compromises.

    In a democracy it wouldn't have been the political parties negotiating about BHV, Brussels Airport, Flemish independance, changing voting laws, racism laws, etc., it would have been us, in a referendum.

    I don't think democracy will fail, but the current system probably will. Either we'll grow towards super nations like the US and EU with big organisations having all power, either we grow to real, smaller democracies cooperating in the areas they want, but I think a dictator is quite unlikely, especially in the US or EU. We have known too much freedom to accept that.

    And historic rules don't exist btw ;)

  18. Well it's not the most constructive thing there is but the reactions of the Muslims is way too fanatic.

    I mean, in Iran they execute gays because ... they are gay. So for them a stupid comical picture in a newspaper in Denmark is worse than executing people?

    Berlusconi was right when he called Islam a backward religion if this is what Islam is standing for.

    In Belgium two Flemings from Algerian parents recently did a theater show and the poster showed a Madonna with one of her breasts naked. There were only few Christians complaining, the only complainers were a bunch of skinheads and elitary fundamentalists Christians. The Church representatives only said they weren't happy about it, but nothing more.

    btw, it wasn't even aimed against Christianity, the show was about Muslim integration, it was rather criticism towards conservative Muslims by progressive Muslims.

  19. I agree that the Palestinians made a democratic choice and that we should respect that. I also agree that we should not stop supporting the people. But if Hamas does not quit terrorist attacks and will pursue the Islamic indoctrination of the Palestinians it would be extremely hypocrite of Europe to support the Palestinian government.

    Europe is internally contantly fighting against racism, extremism and fascism. I do not consider Hamas, or any other Muslim fundamentalist group for that matter, any different than a bunch of racists and extremists. So if they don't become less fanatic I don't see why any country should give them support.

    It would however be very stupid to attack them or quit supporting the people, so I would also be heavily opposed to those saying that we shouldn't help the people or that we should take away from Hamas what they gained democratically.

    The reason that Hamas is chosen is obviously not because the Palestinians follow such fundamentalism, they're probably the most liberal Muslims or Arabs in the Middle East. The main reason is probably poverty and add to that the fact that Fatah didn't live up to the people's expectations and how Israel is treating the Palestinians.

    Israel shouldn't allow the continuing colonisation of Palestinian land, yet it's still ongoing. These extreme Zionists are fundamentalists too imho, not any better than Hamas.

    It's these two groups than sicken the whole situation, a minority that ruins everything for everyone.

    @Yiuel

    You should come and visit Antwerp, it has the second highest concentration of fundamentalist Jews in the world IIRC. It's pretty strange how they live, not in our society but next to it. Yet, I don't have any problems with that, they don't bother anyone with it, it's simply their way of living and they aren't doing any harm with it.

    The Muslims in Antwerp OTOH don't accept these Jews' way of living and there are more and more attacks by Muslims against Jews. I don't understand the reasons behind it because these Jews have nothing to do with the Zionism in Israel, in fact they're quite opposed to it.

    Indeed fundamentalism is growing in any religion and it bugs me too, even some atheists are becoming way too fanatic. But I do consider the Muslim fundamentalism a lot worse. Most fanatic Christians simply consider homosexuals as sinners and want to discriminate them, but fundamentalist Muslims go a step further and even execute them. Same thing how women are treated, Muslims go a step further in that imho.

    @Deacon about democracy

    Well I have to disagree. The problem is that only very few countries are true democratic countries, yet many Western countries like to call themselves a democracy. They aren't, they're representative democracies or particracies, which is a huge difference with a real one imho.

    In a representative democracy people chose someone who represents them in deciding important things. In a particracy (like Belgium) it's the party that usually decides which party members will get a seat in parliament.

    In a true democracy however you can have the same system as above, but add to that the right for people to call for a referendum and obligatory referenda for important changes (eg. to voting laws, to the constitution, etc.).

    Belgium for example is not a democracy at all. The parties decide who gets power (eg. one of the Flemish ministers wasn't even on a voting list), the parties change the voting laws, the parliament decides that we accept the EU consitution (no referendum), etc. So the people don't have any say in how the government acts except the obligatory vote once and a while.

    So I personally believe in democracy, but not in the fake democracy there is now. Organisations with much power like the EU or the WTO are not democratic, the people at the top of these organisations were not even elected.

  20. It's the worst choice they could make but OTOH there weren't really any other options besides a corrupt Fatah.

    Still, the Palestinian government isn't really important, it's not even a real government, nor do they officially represent the Palestenian people, it's the PLO that represents them.

    Next to the obvious fear there is - a terrorist organisation leading a government - I believe people forget too often that Hamas is also an Islamic fundamentalist group with the intention to install the Sharia. That's what bugs me most, how this backward fundamentalism is rising so much everywhere in the Middle East. Every time they get the chance to join democratic elections they get pretty high results, see the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt for example or what happened in Algeria.

    If Hamas will continue to attack innocent people and if they try to install the Sharia or any other form of their fundamentalism I do hope that Europe will stop donating money to their government, I don't see why we should support something like that.

    OTOH all this Muslim fanatism is what the West and Israel asked for. If you support corrupt regimes instead of the people, if you take away land and destroy farms and wells it's no surprise that religious zealots use it as an excuse to get a huge following.

    It's a virtuous circle anyway, I hope someone will have the urge to forgive and stop all the violence.

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