Stylesheet hacking, genetic engineering: same difference
August 8th, 2006Let the one who has never hacked a stylesheet throw the first stone at me
At first, I did not dare to touch more than one parameter at a time in the default stylesheet: a color code, a font definition, the size of one margin here and there. It was only local parameter changes which did not alter the structure, and for which I had little-to-no doubt on the outcome. But then I grew bolder. I wanted to have a theme of my own, with distinctive features. This is when I started to do evil things: I picked-up cool chunks of css code from other themes or I made-up others, and tried to wedge them forcefully into the stylesheet. Impatient to obtain an immediate visual benefit for my website, I uploaded the stylesheet there and then.
Many people probably know what I experienced. When I reloaded my web page, things went all wrong: either the modifications would not ‘take’, as if they were shadowed by some greater mechanism unbeknownst to my ignorant self, or the whole layout would be warped sideways, sidebar flushed to the bottom, titles disappearing behind the banner, text overlapping monstrously. I hurriedly tried to undo my way back to when things were still under control, but it was too late already. By playing the sorcerer’s apprentice with css before I had taken the time to understand how the original stylesheet was built, I had messed up my site beyond recovery.
I decided that it was too risky to attempt new things directly on my website; that I should learn the subtleties of css beforehand [1]; that I should take examples from the best [2]; that I should experiment locally, in a manner of protected laboratory [3]; that I should have a clear picture of what I want my website to look like. This is a long process, and until I reach a reasonably stable state, I should refrain from uploading anything, lest it spread some monstrosity and ruin my precious blog.
Stylesheet hacking, genetic engineering: same difference
At first, we did not dare to touch more than one characteristic at a time in our domestic vegetal and animal species: a color, a size, the weight of the ear here and there. It was only traditional selections of latent characteristics, which did not alter the structure, and for which we had little-to-no doubt on the outcome. But then we grew bolder. We wanted to have varieties of our own, with patentable features. This is when we started to do evil things: we picked-up cool chunks of genetic code from other species or we made-up others, and tried to wedge them forcefully into another genome. Impatient to obtain an immediate financial benefit for our shareholders, we commercialized the variety there and then.
Few people actually know what we experienced. At the first crop, things went all wrong: either the modifications would not ‘take’, as if they were shadowed by some greater mechanism unbeknownst to our ignorant science, or the whole plant would be warped sideways, organs inside out, petals disappearing inside the stem, or protruding monstrously. We can hurriedly try to undo our way back to when things were still under control, but it is probably too late already. By playing the sorcerer’s apprentice with genes before we had taken the time to understand how the original organism was built, maybe we are messing up with nature beyond recovery.
If only we could decide that it is too risky to attempt new things directly in open fields; that we should understand the subtleties of living organisms beforehand; that we should take examples from civil aviation, where risks as low as 1 in a billion can kill a concept; that we should experiment locally, in protected laboratories; that we should have a clear picture of what we want future agriculture to look like. This is a long process, and until we reach a reasonably stable state, we should refrain from commercializing anything, lest it spread some monstrosity and ruin our precious world.
Read on
My lazy (I mean organic) vegetable garden (soon)
An apologia of the scientific mind
Read away
[3] Lorelle’s stylesheet sandbox method
Investigation journalism at its best: George Monbiot
Genetic Engineering: Dream or Nightmare? - a very clear book review
Thanks for this very witty and interesting post! Now I know how NOT to use that new wordpress theme. Trouble is, I want something that’s all my own. I just don’t know how to DO it. Will you be posting more on what you’re creating, as you get more into it? (( do so like your use of orange here, by the way.) Best, BL
Unfortunately, I am no reference as to CSS and PHP intricacies. Better stick with Lorelle’s advice until I really know how to do it right. Her tips and resources on CSS sandbox, theme choice and color schemes are endless sources of inspiration.
I chose orange here because my cat is very orange. My lazy way to have a consistent color palette is to use a color picker with a Hue/Saturation/Value representation: if I use the same hue (or nearly the same), I am pretty sure the result will be OK.
As a person who does work on recombinant DNA, I’d like to point out the misconception that we actually “picked-up cool chunks of genetic code from other species or we made-up others, and tried to wedge them forcefully into another genome”
There is actually a rigorous quality control on things like this because of its effects on nature. Each step is tested again and again before it’s put onto a much more open environment.
There are more experiments like this than the public is aware off, just that when things go wrong, the media explodes upon it like a starving man on the last sandwich. Maybe I missed a point somewhere, but I don’t think you need to sterilize the entire sandbox everytime after you tweaked it’s CSS.
Love the analogy… Very clever.
But of course!… You need to have a good working knowledge of CSS before you start changing it. It is that powerful.
To learn more about CSS [1] I would suggest to go to the master: Eric Meyer. In case you don’t know, he’s written several books that will teach you most of the ins and outs with very short projects.
And to take examples from the best [2], no better man than Douglas Bowman, a pioneer of CSS techniques (many documented on his web site), and a great designer.
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