Dr. Lex' Informative Section

This page contains some topics that could be classified as “educative”. Sometimes I encounter many people who don't know much about a certain topic, or have wrong ideas about it. Or, many people ask me the same questions. In those cases I often feel an urge to make it easier to find the correct information, and of course it's easier to point someone to a webpage than to explain everything again. In many cases, existing good information was hard to find or imcomplete, so I wrote it myself. Most of these topics are related to the internet, but there's also some information related to multimedia.

Internet-related Topics

• Anti-Spam information
  Tips to avoid receiving “spam” mail, and how to fight it if you're already being spammed.
• Web Graphics and Animations
  How to choose between graphic formats for webpages and how to make animated GIFs, make 'em look better and optimize them so that they load faster.
• Top 13 Things Not to Do When Designing a Website
  The title says it all. If you plan on making/are making/have made a website, you should read this and see to what degree your visitors will be/are being/have been annoyed by flaws in your design.
• Another Reason Not to Buy DRM-Protected iTunes Songs
  Of course, the main reason not to buy something that has DRM, is DRM itself. But this page explains why the ‘standard’ 128kbps iTunes songs (i.e. non-‘iTunes Plus’) are to be avoided from a quality point of view too.

Multimedia-related Topics

• Programming volume controls
  This text explains why the volume controls in a lot of software applications are a pain in the ass to work with, and how to implement a good volume control. Also a short part about frequency controls and analysis. A must-read for audio programmers!
• Why aren't All Songs Recorded at the Same Loudness and What is Wrong With Music Nowadays?
  This text explains why music has steadily become more annoying to listen to since 1990, due to a phenomenon commonly called the “Loudness Wars”.
• Media Formats Explained
  This page attempts to shed some light on the difference between multimedia formats, codecs, media players, ... because many people appear to have trouble differentiating between these concepts.
• QTVR Panoramas
  Some QuickTime VR Panoramas I made, from various subjects like real-world scenes, synthetic graphics and computer games.
• How does a QTVR panorama work?
  Basic + more detailed information about the aspects behind (cylindrical) QTVR panoramas.
• How to make a QTVR panorama
  A step-by-step manual on how to create a panorama yourself. The information about software is dated, but the general principles are still applicable.
• How to make a QTVR object
  A step-by-step manual on how to create a QTVR object yourself. Again, software info has become rather obsolete.
• How I Rate Movies
  This is actually just a cheat sheet for myself to remind me how to decide what score I should give when rating a movie on IMDb's 10-star scale. But it would of course be nice if everyone would use the same rating scale.

Various

• Euro exchange calculator
  A simple calculator which converts between the 12 obsolete currencies whose rate relative to the Euro has been fixed.