Why Is My Script Messy?

As most of you know I often participate in forums. I recently read a thread from a user who was having a problem with a script. He wanted to know how to fix the script. I initially thought the user had created a sophisticated function and cut and paste the script incorrectly to the forum post. I would later realize that he probably copied the script from elsewhere and had no clue as to how to make it work for his situation.

In the past, "Open Environment" meant writing code that could be adapted for use in most environments including, any flavor of Unix, Macintosh, VMS, or Windows. What does this mean? I could write an ANSI C program, compile and link it - in any of these environments and have the program behave in the same manner across all platforms.

Today open environment means source code is available for inspection by all. I am not trying to be funny. I spend a lot of time, trying to make the Internet's "new" tools¹ (browsers) work in the same manner across all operating systems (OS). And of course there are several choices of browser for each operating system, which also must be tested. The Internet's "new" tools or browsers do not often follow strict adherence to the standards, e.g., HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. That's why script may work for one browser and not function in another browser or OS environment. Things are getting better.

Back to why my script is messy and why I will not debug your script. I started my career writing programs. It's a closed environment. I spend a lot of time debugging and testing on as many platforms as possible. I think JavaScript is very powerful. I could do a lot with this scripting language and have developed one or two "tricks". That said, I prefer Java... it is closed. I purposely leave my (sites') JavaScript a little haphazard and will never debug someone else's script. I do provide feedback in terms of whether the script works on a given platform that you may not have at your disposal. If being paid, I can write "Pretty Script". And with regard to debugging, there are just to many platforms to check, for me to offer to debug your script for free.

HotScripts.com is a good resource for free scripts.
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¹I refer to Internet Tools as "new". The Internet is a relatively modern development and the tools used in this environment are still being tweaked in an attempt to adopt standards that are often interrupted differently by the organizations developing the "new" tools.