28 comments

  • Diego LafuenteDiego Lafuente, almost 9 years ago

    That's just ridiculous. Personal matter shall not intervene standards in any way. If we let this happen, then the whole spec can become an obituary.

    60 points
    • Keiran LovettKeiran Lovett, almost 9 years ago

      I agree, while its a tragic thing to happen death is part of the human condition - everyone is subject to it. I mean this with no disrespect but I feel like this is taking things too far, and is more of a hollow gesture to Meyer, and a self-serving gesture to the community instead.

      20 points
      • Diego LafuenteDiego Lafuente, almost 9 years ago

        Leave the man in peace I say. I'd honored his lost on Twitter with the hashtag because, in some way, I think both Eric and Zeldman are close friends and he agree this. But taking his daughter name on every piece of the internet I think it's going too far.

        5 points
    • Megan McClellanMegan McClellan, almost 9 years ago

      AliceBlue?

      2 points
    • Daniel FoscoDaniel Fosco, almost 9 years ago

      That's just ridiculous. Personal matter shall not intervene standards in any way.

      Right, because web standards are made by robots and there is absolutely no personal or cultural bias behind them.

      9 points
      • Diego LafuenteDiego Lafuente, almost 9 years ago (edited almost 9 years ago )

        No, mate. You're totally wrong. Web standards should be 100% neutral it cannot be mixed with deaths (there are thousands deaths everyday). I hate to say this because a loss is a loss, and people is paying a tribute to her on the internet when there's zillions of persons out there that die in many, unfair reasons.

        This success has nothing to do with a language spec.

        14 points
    • Hmphry xHmphry x, almost 9 years ago (edited almost 9 years ago )

      I think he is talking about stuff like black, grey, light grey, dark grey. If that is the case, I don't really care as I never use those. I don't think anyone does because they're inaccurate, limiting, and much harder to remember. Also, considering that darkgrey is lighter than grey, I don't think there are many standards for it.

      For those wonder why darkgrey is lighter than grey, it's because grey was release in CSS1 while darkgrey(and lightgrey) came in CSS2. They couldn't update the grey variable without breaking the web, so they gave darkgrey what they intended for grey, as they didn't want to call it darklightgrey, or something.

      0 points
    • Jonathan SuhJonathan Suh, almost 9 years ago (edited almost 9 years ago )

      You do bring up a valid point.

      Maybe it should, maybe it shouldn't, but I think at the very least the gesture and discussion is a good, healthy reminder, beyond the loss of Rebecca, that behind our screens and the web we're people, we're fragile, life is short, and we should love one another, especially our loved ones.

      3 points
      • Emily Campbell, almost 9 years ago

        Exactly! We focus so often on the people looking at and using products and sometimes forget to humanize the process on our end. We are people, working together to shape an amazing tool that is used by billions. What is wrong with injecting some humanity into our specs?

        3 points
    • Frad Lee, almost 9 years ago

      In other words, naming #663399 "Becca Purple" have no meaning to Becca. Personal matter is sad to he, I hope that time flies the sadness is less and less.

      1 point
    • Gonçalo MoraisGonçalo Morais, almost 9 years ago

      What a relief, I was starting to feel like a bad person for not sharing the same opinion.

      1 point
    • Michael AleoMichael Aleo, almost 9 years ago

      Wow. I'm floored by the lack of compassion.

      Do you know what Eric has contributed to the web? To your profession? This is a gesture that hurts no one. No one. It's a simple nod of respect to a man who has helped to build the web standards movement—who lost the daughter he adored.

      Just wow.

      1 point
    • Tracy McTracy Mc, almost 9 years ago

      I bet "personal matters" have been a part of design standards all along, you just didn't know about it. Ever hear of a Motherboard? Maybe it should have been called the 3920123 board (the engineers first phone number) instead? People have been sneaking personal easter eggs into all manner of standards since a standard became a "thing".

      1 point
  • Andy MikulskiAndy Mikulski, almost 9 years ago (edited almost 9 years ago )

    I understand the sentiment behind this, though where will it go if this goes through? AIDS red? Breast Cancer pink? Pepsi® Blue? The spec should not be used for something like this, imo.

    29 points
  • Taurean BryantTaurean Bryant, almost 9 years ago

    I really hope this works out. This is a really beautiful thing to do.

    11 points
  • Lewis FludeLewis Flude, almost 9 years ago

    This isn't a good idea, as it's inconsistent with the way I (and many others who represent the majority of the web community) think things should be done. Changing our avatars/blogs are a nice way of showing our condolences.

    10 points
  • Emily Campbell, almost 9 years ago

    I think this would be a wonderful easter egg. With everything Eric Meyer has contributed to the web community, this would be a fantastic tribute. For all we know, "cornflower blue" was the color of the favorite flower of the original spec writer's daughter! 3 generations of web designers from now will probably not get the reference or take personal offense to it.

    5 points
    • Lewis FludeLewis Flude, almost 9 years ago

      Easter eggs are fine if they're neutral and storyless, or if there is a central entity responsible (such as Google) where they have decided easter eggs are a part of their culture. As the web isn't "owned" by anyone, there shouldn't be any one person to draw the line of where easter eggs become acceptable. For example, if another CSS spec contributor has something equally as tragic happen to them, do we name another colour in honour? It's hard to talk about this issue, but I really do believe we as a community owe Eric our respects.

      4 points
      • Daniel FoscoDaniel Fosco, almost 9 years ago

        Nobody is drawing any lines, the community is naturally rallying behind this.

        The last thing we should be doing is raising a wall of impersonality between "our web" and this tragic event, as if standards were made by faceless entities.

        0 points
    • Megan McClellanMegan McClellan, almost 9 years ago

      And we do know with certainty that the very first color that appears in the list of named colors, aliceblue, is based on Alice Roosevelt's fondness for the color.

      3 points
  • Emily Campbell, almost 9 years ago

    Already patched into webkit: https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=133804

    4 points
  • Darth BaneDarth Bane, almost 9 years ago

    I don't understand the negativity. It doesn't change anyone's workflow to name one hex code 'beccapurple'. Should standards be neutral? Yes, but we're not ruining the spec by naming one colour something specific.

    Sure, people and kids die every day by the thousands, and Meyer's personal situation is far from unique...however, his role in the business makes this a unique situation where it makes sense to pay tribute in unconventional ways.

    3 points
    • Joel LJoel L, almost 9 years ago

      This is a great personal tragedy, and being against this "standard change" will probably make me look like an inconsiderate asshole.

      There are thousands of people who have a very important role in the development of the web, but that doesn't mean we should add their loved ones' names to browser engines as special "keywords".

      This will change the workflow for all browser makers and maintainers, as "beccapurple" will have to be added and maintained for all eternity in all browsers.

      3 points
      • Darth BaneDarth Bane, almost 9 years ago

        Well of course we shouldn't add every loved one's name to the spec, but that isn't the point. The point is that Meyer's position, situation, the use of social media to work through his tragedy, the rallying of the design community to support him...makes this a unique situation, enough to open up the possibility of an unconventional tribute.

        A browser supporting 'beccapurple' or some other non-tragic name like 'light purple' makes no technical difference, there are other hex alternatives added to the spec anyway, and all browsers will have to take that into consideration.

        Again, I don't understand the negativity. Is it really that awful adding 'beccapurple' to the list of hex aliases? It's not a religious or political statement, it doesn't harm anyone. And, as some have pointed out, we already have non-standard entities, like 'aliceblue'. Has 'aliceblue' changed your workflow?

        1 point