4 ms·

I wrote some Perl code that improved the look of those buttons (based on Trevor Blackwell's engine) at Viaweb back in 1997. I distinctly remember Paul, Trevor a

I wrote some Perl code that improved the look of those buttons (based on Trevor Blackwell's engine) at Viaweb back in 1997. I distinctly remember Paul, Trevor and others gathered around my screen to admire the new buttons. So nobody criticize the Yahoo Store buttons!

photon_off 16y ago
I remember waiting for them to load on 56k. You really had to go all out with the bevel instead of regular text?
- jsyedidia 16y ago
  The images that are used by a Yahoo Store website are created once and for all and then stored as very small .gif files. For example, all the buttons in Paul Grapham's web-site are stored as the .gif file http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/paulgraham_2117_16484650.gif http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/paulgraham_2117_16484650.gif. You can download that file for yourself and examine it and learn that it has a size of 2896 bytes. So even on a 56K connection, it should take a fraction of a second to download all of the buttons Paul uses.
  - photon_off 16y ago
    It's possible that my memory is faulty on the matter. I was probably around 14 or 15 at the time, but I remember looking for a nice heatsink/fan combo so I could try overclocking, a project which would later lead me to make a really awesome water-cooling contraption (it involved a sizable A/C radiator soaked in ice water, hooked up to a doubly stacked set of 60w and 80w peltier coolers -- I ultimately had problems with frost which ended up frying things). At any rate, I (think) I remember waiting forever for each individual and unappealing icon to load at this store. It's completely possible that the store was a Yahoo Store knock-off, or that it was before the optimization you mention. I guess we'll never know, since I've probably cleared my cache since then.
    - jsyedidia 16y ago
      It wasn't Yahoo Store. We always had optimized buttons because of Trevor's engine. It was one of our key advantages.

photon_off 16y ago

I remember waiting for them to load on 56k. You really had to go all out with the bevel instead of regular text?

jsyedidia 16y ago
The images that are used by a Yahoo Store website are created once and for all and then stored as very small .gif files. For example, all the buttons in Paul Grapham's web-site are stored as the .gif file http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/paulgraham_2117_16484650.gif http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/paulgraham_2117_16484650.gif. You can download that file for yourself and examine it and learn that it has a size of 2896 bytes. So even on a 56K connection, it should take a fraction of a second to download all of the buttons Paul uses.
- photon_off 16y ago
  It's possible that my memory is faulty on the matter. I was probably around 14 or 15 at the time, but I remember looking for a nice heatsink/fan combo so I could try overclocking, a project which would later lead me to make a really awesome water-cooling contraption (it involved a sizable A/C radiator soaked in ice water, hooked up to a doubly stacked set of 60w and 80w peltier coolers -- I ultimately had problems with frost which ended up frying things). At any rate, I (think) I remember waiting forever for each individual and unappealing icon to load at this store. It's completely possible that the store was a Yahoo Store knock-off, or that it was before the optimization you mention. I guess we'll never know, since I've probably cleared my cache since then.
  - jsyedidia 16y ago
    It wasn't Yahoo Store. We always had optimized buttons because of Trevor's engine. It was one of our key advantages.