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1. If a customer is looking for books, they're probably not going to be looking in the code. 2. If someone is looking in the code, they're probably ready for b

1. If a customer is looking for books, they're probably not going to be looking in the code. 2. If someone is looking in the code, they're probably ready for books beyond "HTML & CSS". 3. The urls aren't hyperlinked, so readers have to copy-paste. 4. The two books I bothered to copy-paste both report, "Not in our warehouse". One of them further reports that "We can order it, but could take up to 3 weeks". The big-A can have it to me in 3 days, two of which are the weekend.

mistro 12y ago
Your second point is off the mark - I teach a load of kids (12-16 years old or so) who know all about pressing F12 and looking at source code, but who know next to nothing more about HTML, CSS, Python etc. Whether or not they'd be interested in reading a book when you can just watch it on Youtube is another matter entirely!
- linuxlizard 12y ago
  My 12-yo is learning HTML/JS by reading and modifying websites' code.
  - jarin 12y ago
    That is how I learned when I was 12 too :)
    - lstamour 12y ago
      Back then I didn't have developer tools though. That lowers the bar considerably to newcomers. :)
      - err4nt 12y ago
        I first got excited about web design when my computer teacher taught me how to change table cell background colors, in Netscape Composer. Now I do responsive CSS for a living!
    - fysac 12y ago
      I remember the endless amusement I had using Firebug to create ridiculous headlines on yahoo.com.
- yaddayadda 12y ago
  > 2. If someone is looking in the code, they're probably ready for books beyond "HTML & CSS". Key word in my original statement - "probably". I didn't claim that everyone reading it was beyond needing a beginners book, just that a reader of the code was "probably" ready for books beyond "HTML & CSS". As for books versus Youtube - yep, I'm an immigrant. In most cases, I personally still prefer books, online tutorials, and online forums to Youtube. But I'm not surprised to hear that isn't the case with kids. But then again, we're discussion a book-seller's site.
hockley 12y ago
http://youtu.be/ObdC3uhPeEY http://youtu.be/ObdC3uhPeEY
ternaryoperator 12y ago
>The urls aren't hyperlinked, so readers have to copy-paste. Is it even possible to have clickable hyperlinks in HTML comments?
- LanceH 12y ago
  Depending on the editor, it will recognize http:// http:// as a url and link it.
BuildTheRobots 12y ago
> 3. The urls aren't hyperlinked, so readers have to copy-paste. Actually you can just highlight the URL and right click, you get an option to open it in various ways... (firefox and chrome)
- yaddayadda 12y ago
  I'm using Firefox 35.0.1 on OS X, i.e. the latest version of Firefox and I can't find anything that is faster than "Show Source", click and drag (to highlight the desired url), copy, paste into url bar, and press enter. I do not have any "Open" options on my right-click from "Show Source". From "Show Source" once I've highlighted the url, the only right-click options available are "Find Again", "Copy" (which I'm already doing, albeit from a keyboard shortcut), and "Select All". If I try it from "Inspect Elements", I can expand the head tag, double-click to select the comment, click and drag to select the url, at which point my right-click only has the "Show DOM Properties" option available. But this has already taken longer than the above show source, then copy-paste, and go.
  - BuildTheRobots 12y ago
    Huh. It turns out you're completely correct. Turns out I was able to highlight and right click because I was selecting the <pre> embedded text in the comments of hacker news, rather than viewing source on the waterstones link. I'm dismayed to report that the view source window doesn't give you this open. Even worse, if you right click on something that's highlighted as being a URL you can't even open it in a new window/tab. Colour me disappointed.
arbre 12y ago
It's because they expect you to extract the urls and open them ! On a mac with chrome : echo `curl https://www.waterstones.com/` https://www.waterstones.com/` | grep -o 'http[^ "]/book/[^ "]' | xargs open -a Google\ Chrome

mistro 12y ago

Your second point is off the mark - I teach a load of kids (12-16 years old or so) who know all about pressing F12 and looking at source code, but who know next to nothing more about HTML, CSS, Python etc. Whether or not they'd be interested in reading a book when you can just watch it on Youtube is another matter entirely!

linuxlizard 12y ago
My 12-yo is learning HTML/JS by reading and modifying websites' code.
- jarin 12y ago
  That is how I learned when I was 12 too :)
  - lstamour 12y ago
    Back then I didn't have developer tools though. That lowers the bar considerably to newcomers. :)
    - err4nt 12y ago
      I first got excited about web design when my computer teacher taught me how to change table cell background colors, in Netscape Composer. Now I do responsive CSS for a living!
  - fysac 12y ago
    I remember the endless amusement I had using Firebug to create ridiculous headlines on yahoo.com.
yaddayadda 12y ago
> 2. If someone is looking in the code, they're probably ready for books beyond "HTML & CSS". Key word in my original statement - "probably". I didn't claim that everyone reading it was beyond needing a beginners book, just that a reader of the code was "probably" ready for books beyond "HTML & CSS". As for books versus Youtube - yep, I'm an immigrant. In most cases, I personally still prefer books, online tutorials, and online forums to Youtube. But I'm not surprised to hear that isn't the case with kids. But then again, we're discussion a book-seller's site.

hockley 12y ago

http://youtu.be/ObdC3uhPeEY http://youtu.be/ObdC3uhPeEY

ternaryoperator 12y ago

>The urls aren't hyperlinked, so readers have to copy-paste. Is it even possible to have clickable hyperlinks in HTML comments?

LanceH 12y ago
Depending on the editor, it will recognize http:// http:// as a url and link it.

BuildTheRobots 12y ago

> 3. The urls aren't hyperlinked, so readers have to copy-paste. Actually you can just highlight the URL and right click, you get an option to open it in various ways... (firefox and chrome)

yaddayadda 12y ago
I'm using Firefox 35.0.1 on OS X, i.e. the latest version of Firefox and I can't find anything that is faster than "Show Source", click and drag (to highlight the desired url), copy, paste into url bar, and press enter. I do not have any "Open" options on my right-click from "Show Source". From "Show Source" once I've highlighted the url, the only right-click options available are "Find Again", "Copy" (which I'm already doing, albeit from a keyboard shortcut), and "Select All". If I try it from "Inspect Elements", I can expand the head tag, double-click to select the comment, click and drag to select the url, at which point my right-click only has the "Show DOM Properties" option available. But this has already taken longer than the above show source, then copy-paste, and go.
- BuildTheRobots 12y ago
  Huh. It turns out you're completely correct. Turns out I was able to highlight and right click because I was selecting the <pre> embedded text in the comments of hacker news, rather than viewing source on the waterstones link. I'm dismayed to report that the view source window doesn't give you this open. Even worse, if you right click on something that's highlighted as being a URL you can't even open it in a new window/tab. Colour me disappointed.

arbre 12y ago

It's because they expect you to extract the urls and open them ! On a mac with chrome : echo `curl https://www.waterstones.com/` https://www.waterstones.com/` | grep -o 'http[^ "]/book/[^ "]' | xargs open -a Google\ Chrome