Goodbye Internet Explorer
As Microsoft hammer in the last few nails, I ask the question: what will people use to download Chrome?
Webdev
Turning my sites up to Eleven-ty
This site is now powered by a static site generator called 11ty. It’s awesome! I’ll try to explain some of my favourite things about it and reasons you might prefer it to stalwarts in the SSG arena.
Wait! What happened to RSS?!
While I was busy aging like soft cheese, someone killed-off* RSS.
It used to be everywhere, now it’s gone; hidden or dead. How do you kids stay up to date with the websites you like? Do you know what RSS does? How are websites supposed to advertise update-subscriptions?
CSS layouts are so much better than 2010
In finally dropping IE11 support for my last few projects, I’ve been able to use raw CSS —not somebody else’s framework— and it’s lovely to see how far CSS has come.
It’s time we buried Internet Explorer 8
Every web developer loves to wail on Internet Explorer but we need to act now if we want to stop the history of IE6 repeating itself with IE8. The longer we don’t, the longer we agree to limit ourselves to not using new and exciting features that make the internet better and our lives easier.
Why I love Disqus
Once upon a time if I wanted comments on a website, I would do them myself, tediously tackling problems solved a dozen times before to deliver an intuitive system. But today is a new day and I wouldn’t dream of writing comment code unless I really had to.
Adobe: Do as we say, not as we do
Adobe launched its Open Source initiative website the other day and I took at a look at the page. After highlighting some of the text as I read through it, I quickly realised I had stumbled through a warp-hole and landed in 1995. Warning: bad coding practices in this post!
Why Firefox 3 rocks
A media heavy post to start the year! I’ve been using Firefox 3 beta 2 for some time now and here are my favourite features. FF3 already rocks my socks and I’ve a feeling that the final release is going to blow them off.
Browser-wars 2.0? Conflict breeds innovation
Several pronounced webdev figures are stepping forward to say they’re bored of the stale state of standards. We need more fun and faster innovation and the best thing for that is all-out war, no?
AutoPacker - Optimise your JavaScript
Do you juggle several JavaScript files around your site? Too much effort to compress them down? Now you can compress them down as soon as you edit a file without having to run the files through an external tool, all done transparently and on the fly.
How to block Adblock
With the way publishers go on about them, you’d be forgiven for thinking ad-blockers were going to destroy the universe. In a desperate effort to stem the whinging, I’ve written some code to help them be as obnoxious as they like on their own sites.
What I’ve written is technically DRM 2.0. Please don’t hate me.
Will semantic development kill link ads?
How effective will link advertisements be if/when the web becomes even more semantic? Is there a future for the schemes that fund many bloggers’ habits.
Has Apple tripped up with Safari?
Apple has recently launched their flagship browser to Windows. Any good? Any point? Despite animosity for most things Apple, I’m excited to get my hands on the Apple browser… But for how long?
Stop the server abuse!
Have a look at the silly things IconBuffet are doing.
Sony’s PS3 site
People might feel I have some form of vendetta against Sony. I don’t. Honestly! However, Sony continue on their downward spiral and I just echo that.
CSS Table of Contents
Derek Punsalan’s take on a CSS version of a Table of Contents is a good effort, but he stopped a mile short of the finish line.
Why use standards?
Over the past few years, people who’ve been watching the world of webdev will have noticed that the message of standards has been playing a major role in how people chose to develop things.
Dear Browser Makers
An open letter to the companies making today’s browsers…
Pros and Cons of OpenID
So why should (or shouldn’t) you consider OpenID in your next project?
Viddler isn’t great
While I’m all in favour of people using diverse video services, they’re not all equal. Viddler has issues.
Flash isn’t flashy
A fairly common complaint from some webdesigners is clients want too much Flash and this is fairly easy to understand.
Gripe 802: Background Images
When making a design these days, people are far too keen to plaster background images around without wondering what happens if the site cannot load the image for some reason.
Browsers are not the future
I’ve been making websites long enough to notice that the trajectory of change is far more accute in just the last few years.
The 5 Rules of WebDev
Truth be told, there are no rules to what you have to abide by when designing a new website. You can do pretty much what you like, but then again, you might not have much repeat traffic. Here are some tips for those starting out.
CSS Should Be Better
CSS, albeit old, is an amazing breakthrough in the way we can separate markup from how things are displayed.
NEW Experts-Exchange Website
Their massive redesign has leaked out through DNS, and here it is…
Web 5.0 - A glimpse of the future
As people start trying to define Web 3.0 with unbridled optimism and endless hand-waving, I look ahead a few versions
Is WebSafe Still Important?
It’s important to remember that not everyone is viewing your website on a device as capable as yours. Colour-depth is easy to overlook, but is it important?
Limiting The Digg Effect
How do you build a website that can survive massive traffic spikes?
Getting the ISP from the IP
A Visual Basic .NET approach to resolving an ISP through WHOIS
Getting The Real IP of Your Users
There are a lot of sites around the internet that try and get your IP address. Most of their reasons are legitimate