CCSTAL is a method for creating a web site design template using a client side scripting language like JavaScript.
It qualifies as "host agnostic" because it requires nothing more than a place to store files; a feature associated with any legitimate web hosting solution.
It's an alternative to using a CMS, or rolling your own server side solution that would require CGI, ASP, or any other server side swap mechanism.
This means CCSTAL is exceptionally portable from a hosting standpoint. You can move it anywhere with virtually no configuration and no fuss. So, when
you web host finally goes too far... it's super easy to move.
Bookmarklets are a great way to use JavaScript to build form fillers, query a page for specific information, or do other magic with the current page.
I like them primarily because they can be built to automate what might otherwise require technical skills in others (who are non-technical), or to help
me to speed up mundane repetitive tasks (such as walking through a sequence of form fields in a web application). Bookmarklets are basically limited by
what JavaScript can do, and by the URL length a browser supports.
Like many folks, puzzles have always fascinated me. Being a web developer by day and a game programmer by wanna-be (and a little background) I've been assembling some projects
which combine study terminology over the years and glossary projects into data feeds for game engines. Currently, you can see the examples using a
JavaScript hangman engine I wrote years ago.
Years ago I worked for a web hosting company, and over the course of many years learned some tricks of the trade.
Some of those tricks were good (consumer friendly), and some not, (a bit more diabolical).
What do I consider to be "not" good as defined here?
Anything that makes a user (whether that's a visitor, webmaster, web developer, designer, or otherwise) captive to a technology or service that is proprietary.
Why? Great question.
Everything has a learning curve, regardless of your role.
Personally I've found it frustrating to invest in making it through a learning curve only to find that I'm now captive to a company who will increase my
bill if I'm already paying, or decrease the feature set or functionality in order to put the pressure on me to upgrade (start paying).
Years in to this profession, I've seen this happen numerous times, and I'm pretty sure its a business practice that's likely to have longevity.
More than simply trying to extrude revenue from you, there are other ways this affects us. For example, I hate when a site wants to make me download third party software.
Some of these plug-ins promulgate attack techniques used by really smart bad guys, and by forcing you to load software on your machine that can be made to
misbehavior via exploits, those companies aren't doing you any favors. I'll admit this is a fine line, certainly there are some desirable aspects to certain
plug-ins. So, I'm simply stating that on a machine I use to store or access sensitive information (personal, business, or otherwise) I'm not comfortable
piling plug-ins on to my browsers. And, if such a machine is going to have trusted access to a network on which such information might be stored, I'm similarly unwilling
to take that risk.
How does this relate to web hosting?
Blogs, video, photo albums, favorite links, and pretty much anything that gets wrapped up in to a page that appears on the
web is subject to this phenomenon. You might not realize it until your web hosting company changes their policy (or you decide they suck, or that you simply want to try something else)
and you are suddenly faced with the challenge of moving your "stuff" somewhere else. It's like buying lots of heavy furniture because it looked great at the store, then you had the delivery guys
cart it home and set it up (while you sip lemonade), and then you have to move ...and you get to move your new furniture now, it's a lot of work and not fun.
Unraveling functionality provided by a web host's tools that you decide you'd like to keep after you move can be a highly technical, expensive process--assuming you have or have access to the
technical skills/resources you need to do it, and that you can justify the costs. I know folks in the industry who get paid and can't do this--so it's, as a friend of mine liked to say, "non-trivial".
So, what to do about this? Well, educate of course. So, first off, let me simply state my mission for this site.
Create and test: process, products, and/or services which aren't captive to any specific web hosting platform.
Describe common traps and alternatives to help avoid such encumbrances in the first place.
Focus on simplicity and cost effectiveness--this is what we all want any way.
For starters, we'll focus on web designs, templating systems, programming, techniques,
and anything related to web hosting, web development, and website management
which can be done using host agnostic methods.