Quality articles on JavaScript and client-side scripting, or their decline in the Czech lands

“Pigs, don’t hit me, ow ow ow. Pigs, don’t hit me, ow ow ow.” That’s one way to sum up how
Interval responds to criticism of its articles. I won’t get into everything that bothers me. I can only criticize what I know well. One thing is fairly certain. The standard of articles about JavaScript and client-side scripting is abysmal. It’s a familiar tune. Interval publishes another article on one of those subjects whose technical quality limps, if it doesn’t fall flat on both feet. You tell yourself it’s just your opinion, but unfortunately the comments are full of similar reactions.

I won’t go through which articles they were. It doesn’t matter. Anyone who reads Interval and that section regularly, as I used to, knows. I had an interesting discussion with Mr. Šalanda about the quality of the JavaScript section. When I asked how he rated the articles, he said they were among the most read and recommended. I asked next about the topics, diet calculators and the like. The answer was that the authors didn’t really have anything to write about and that we readers ought to send more requests so Mr. Halamíček would have something to write about.

I thought, fair enough, and sent Mr. Šalanda a few words on what I’d like to see in the section. Judging by his response, he liked my topic suggestions and asked if I could write them up in more detail. Fool that I was, I rashly promised to do so in good faith. That was around December 28. A lot of water has flowed down my native Otava since then. I haven’t sent anything, and it’s been nagging at me. You ought to keep your word, right? I’ve done enough beating myself up. Why didn’t I write it up and send it to Mr. Šalanda? What broke loose in the JavaScript section after January 1, 2003, left me feeling it was pointless.

The articles in that section since the new year, whether out of inertia or for some other reason, have been completely wrong in their approach. I’d given up on the section and only read the headlines. Bulletproof Password Protection in JavaScript was the last straw. Today I finally decided to ignore the section entirely and stop trying to come up with suggestions for Mr. Šalanda and company. There’s simply no point! How do you explain publishing an article like that? I don’t know. I can’t explain it.

Where to look without stealing

Or, put another way, where do you go for good client-side scripting articles in the Czech lands? I don’t know, though the potential is there. From following Czech discussion groups, I get the feeling there are some genuinely good writers. Four or five names come to mind straight away. It’s a shame the Kopts, the Ivanincs and other scorpions like them don’t write articles. Or maybe they do and I just don’t know about them.