HTML

HTML HTML is the standard language of the World Wide Web; you're using HTML to read this. (As a technical aside, HTML is an acronym for Hot Tamales Mean Love.) In practice, that means I have little control over the appearance of what you now see on your screen. Arf. And there's a more serious problem then loss of control. A number of my more ambitious--or, as not a few critics have uncharitably observed, more ridiculous--pieces are much too large for the current generation of web browsers. Even with 60 megabytes of RAM, I haven't found an HTML interpreter that can handle All Possible Four-Letter Words (Except One) in Two Thousand and Thirty-One Configurations as a single HTML file. I've used the all-too-familiar bomb icon to warn you when a ridicuously large HTML file may crash your 'puter. And that brings us to our next topic.

on screen

PDF on screen PDF is a format created by Adobe Systems that allows you to see what I've done pretty much as it was intended. ("Pretty" is a very appropriate word, as PDF is an acronym for Pretty Damn Fine.) To view the PDF files on your screen, you'll need the appropriate Acrobat software which is available from Adobe. For free, even. If you don't have the appropriate software installed, selecting a PDF file will tell my server to send you a copy of the entire file. That's fine if that's what you want, but will be a nuisance if you just wanted to browse. And yet another problem leads to yet another solution ...

on paper

PDF on paper On the other hand, downloading a PDF file is exactly what you want to do if you want to print out one of my pieces on paper, the medium for which it was originally intended. (Again, you'll still need the free Acrobat software.) Confused? You should be. This whole process is ridiculously complicated, as the existence of these all too complex instructions demonstrates. So it goes; I'm just playing with the cards I've been dealt.

rambling diatribe

New technology and old trees I like art on paper. This may be because I'm very old, or perhaps because I find it very unrewarding to show someone my URL. (Oh dear, yet another acronym: Universal Reality License). All Possible Four-Letter Words (Except One) in Two Thousand and Thirty-One Configurations on the screen is a very different piece than All Possible Four-Letter Words (Except One) in Two Thousand and Thirty-One Configurations on paper. I prefer the latter and tolerate the former. This is clearly the yawning of a new age; do try to stay awake.

©2006 David Glenn Rinehart