Ben coins a phrase . . . . validation porn.
Standards, APIs, and the eye of the reader:
We went through the early stages of the web building our toolkits and learning technique, and now it’s time to stop talking about how we’d build stuff, and go on and actually do it. Validation porn has had its day. Enough about the brushes already: give me some beauty.
Doesn’t this hold with everything artistic? Ask a pro photographer what film he uses, what camera he uses, what lenses he favors, and he’ll tell you it doesn’t matter. The light is what matters. (Did I say film? How olde skool is that?)
What kind of word processing software did Bill Shakespeare use?
Do you have to replicate [fill in your favorite guitar-strangler]’s equipment to play as well as they did?
A casual glance will tell you that the professionals use similar equipment — Nikon or Canon cameras, Gibson or Fender guitars — but their work may be by no means similar. Is there a lesson here about the co-evolution of art and technology?
The tools evolve or mature as new artforms emerge but the rate of change slows to a crawl (the 35mm camera is almost 100 years old). Other than improvements in film sensivity and formulations, the technology is largely unchanged.
Likewise musical instruments: the Stradivarius violin (ca. 1680) is mechanically identical to one built today, and a great player can wring a good sound out of either one.
So yeah, Ben: rock on. Let’s get the tools out of the way and make some art.
Now playing: Your Smile Stops The Hands Of Time by Roddy Frame from the album “Surf” | Get it