Re: gperiodic

[Camilla R Fox <cfox@mit.edu>]

Georges Khaznadar wrote:
> Camilla R Fox wrote:
> [about voice data]
> > Increasing code size is far more dangerous than increasing data size.
> 
> So why not attach voice data to html files which can be read with another
> tool than gperiodic. Let's not invent the wheel once more.

A quick web search turns up some excellent periodic tables.  I was
previously treating the question "how do we make gperiodic better",
and trying very hard to avoid questioning whether gperiodic's nitch is
already occupied.

The advantage that I do see to making a standalone program is that you
can say "here are programs to teach you about foo bar and quux - go
explore them to their limits" rather than "open such and such a browser,
and look at these sites that have been downloaded for you".

There's also the problem of finding a web browser that isn't appaulingly
awful - it's a big project, but it would be great to package up a free web
browser that doesn't encourage horrible html, yet allows multimedia to be
done well, and to provide gobs of useful web pages that are maintained
and suitable for learning from (and fairly timeless).  (I'm thinking of
a quickly setup on-line school library that can be used unsupervised,
since it isn't on the internet, and it is self-contained.)

It seems that we lack clear priorities, and that I'm not qualified
to advise, without understanding the priorities used in deseigning
the program.

-Camilla