I built a nice html templater!

[Eric S. Johansson]

Steve Holden wrote:
> Tim Roberts wrote:
>> Derick van Niekerk <derickvn at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Ok - so it's not really an awesome achievement and only handles basic
>>> templating needs (no loops and other programming constructs) but maybe
>>> someone will find it useful.
>> <sarcasm>
>> Sure, that's what the world needed.  We didn't have enough Python HTML
>> templaters already.
>> </sarcasm>
>>
>> Did you take even 3 minutes to look for a solution before you wrote this?
>> There is even a nearly identical solution in the Python cookbook.
> 
> While I agree it was a little naive to expect a huge amount of interest
> I think there's educational value in building a templating system of
> your own. Sarcasm id the lowest form of wit, and there's no real need
> for it here. You'd have been better saving your ire for someone who
> really deserves it. Sadly there are plenty around.

my replication of work was motivated by a very different need.  I built a web
framework that is friendly to speech recognition users. It uses plain English
words and very little special punctuation.  the internal CGI environment is also
very simple in case you have a memory deficit and need to refresh your memory on
the functionality between uses.  Almost every HTML template system, and web
framework I've seen look like they are designed to exclude disabled users.
Special punctuation, special spacing rules, non-English character sequences,
complex APIs, and lots of APIs say to the world "no disabled need apply".

Before you protest and say that disabled users are a special case, remember that
almost everyone becomes disabled as a result of aging or accident.  a simple
broken wrist or arm could keep you from doing your job.  arthritis and other
joint disorders will make keyboards something you cannot stand the touch.  you
will not escape needing some form of accessibility tools if you decide to keep
using computers.

Now you're faced with a choice.  Do you want to design and build things that you
will not be able to use at some point or do you want to build systems that can
be used by you now, and you in the future.  let me play from personal
experience, it's far easier to build accessible systems before you need them
than after.