Archive for the ‘Web Standards’ Category
Jun
20
2008
at 9:17am
I finally got around to trying out the local web server on my Mac today. At first I was quite impressed — it’s obvious from the default installation, everything is set up and ready to go, and they even include a handy quickstart index.html page*. How cool is that? Get newbies started with web page design. It even tells them how easy it is to create a web page.
Then I read this:
HTML is easy — so easy that even a first-time user can do it. That’s because you don’t have to learn HTML to use it.
Leading word processing applications, such as Microsoft Word and AppleWorks 6, actually generate HTML webpages for you with just a few clicks of a mouse.
Noooooooo….
* link only available while my work computer is on, which is only when I’m at work, or you can try this one.
Posted in Usability, Web Standards | 2 Comments »
May
09
2008
at 8:23am
Note: This post was written about 2 months ago but never published. My apoligies for being out of date but I thought it was interesting enough to post.
I brought this up over a year ago and this time, others are talking about it. Jeff Croft says that “Your markup validator, whether it’s the one on the W3C site or one built into your favorite coding tool, is not a measuring stick for greatness.”
Read more…
Posted in Web Standards | 4 Comments »
Mar
13
2008
at 9:08am
A few months ago I wrote about the frustrations involved with working with someone else’s outdated code. 37 Signals has a similar post today:
Here’s something I don’t say often: Suck It Up. If you work on more than a few projects, they can’t all smell like today’s fresh linens. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad programmer. It simply means that you’re prioritizing.
And I think that’s something that goes for any type of project. There’s rarely enough time or money to make everything perfect, whether it be a programming project at work or the paint job in the dining room. You have to find the point of balance and decide when it’s worth it to put in the extra time and/or money. Does this really matter in the big picture?
This can be a difficult thing to get over and, as a perfectionist, I know I often spend time on things that don’t matter that much.
Posted in General, Web Standards | 2 Comments »
Mar
02
2008
at 9:57pm
Okay, okay, I’m sure you’ve read enough about the whole IE 8 meta tag debacle. I understand, so have I. So feel free to stop reading. This is yet another mostly negative opinion (as could be expected, right?). And, yes, I’m a few weeks late to the discussion. Bill Gates was visiting, it took up a lot of my time. Now isn’t that ironic?
Opinions I like
And the TWF discussion thread.
Read more…
Posted in Web Standards | 2 Comments »
Feb
24
2008
at 10:21am
I’ve come across a couple of interesting browser upgrade campaigns lately. Yes, lots of IE testing! Anyway, it’s kind of interesting to see the way different sites have presented the message.
Purpose of a browser upgrade campaign
The purpose of a browser upgrade campaign is to:
- tell people they’re using an outdated browser
- explain why this is a problem (optional but effective)
- suggest alternatives
Read more…
Posted in Design, Usability, Web Standards | 2 Comments »
Jan
15
2008
at 2:40pm
Do you ever have the task of fixing someone else’s code? Someone else’s crappy code? Don’t you wish you could just start over?
You just need to make a few small changes. But the CSS is such a mess! It would be so much better if you could just re-write it. Cut down on the crud and make it all nice and clean and elegeant. Take it all down like Mike Holmes.
But there’s not enough time for that. The changes are due by tomorrow so you have to just make do with what’s there and add in your own necessarily crappy code.
Sigh… this happens to me all the time these days. And I’m sitting here thinking, should I just fix it? How long would it take? There’s a little brick wall here — do I just climb over or do I start again?
Granted, this code isn’t *that* bad. It’s relatively standards-ey (circa 2004-ish). Just lots of layers of disorganized CSS a bunch of IE5 hacks. It still bugs me though.
Posted in General, Web Standards | 2 Comments »
