Tag: html

Categories
Mozilla

David Hyatt’s right

David Hyatt seems to have generated some waves over his recent posts regarding Safari “bugs”.

I must say he’s 100% right, and I applaud him for taking a stand.

I’m a web developer for several years in one form or another. I’ve had a web presence for several years now. I started out just using Netscape Communicator and Claris Homepage for web site development. Not knowing ANY HTML. Slowly I learned.

Over the past 2 years now, I’ve become almost obsessed with writing “the perfect code”. A website that looks good in all browsers, is small, and works perfectly every time.

What I’ve found is that you can save tons of time by just using valid code. Since I’ve been an addict about validating my pages, I haven’t had rendering issues. I used to have many bugs that would drive me crazy. Fix one thing, and it breaks in another browser. It was a mess. Since I went with good valid HTML (I still prefer HTML 4.01/Trans with sparing use of CSS, since it breaks a little nicer IMHO in older browsers).

And being a Mac lover and Mozilla addict, means I’m also well aware of how webmasters ignore standards, as long as bad code breaks in a desired way in IE. It’s been driving me crazy for years.

I’m going to keep generating valid websites. I have no intent on going back to my ways of the past. Some pages will be invalid for some time until their backend is updated appropriately. But all new systems/pages written will generate valid HTML. And that’s my plan from here on out. Why? Because it’s faster than patching for eternity, it works, and it’s the RIGHT way of doing things. It’s cheaper really. Cleaner code is less bandwidth and more efficient business wise. Read here for more on that. Good companies want valid code as well.

I really hope some other webmasters beside myself start listening to Mr. Hyatt. He’s a wise authority on web development giving his experience in Mozilla and Safari. If there’s a webmaster out there that doesn’t monitor his blog(s), I encourage them to start doing so, and read up in his archive on his past posts (you can skip the pop culture ones if you want… but he’s got good taste in games, and especially TV i.e. HBO)

Perhaps he’s just started a revolution that will change the web? Perhaps he’s only enlightened a handful of webmasters. Either way… Thank you.

Categories
MacVillage.net

Were transitionally compliant, and transitioning

Today I hit a milestone for MacVillage.net. During the transition to the new systems, I will be keeping the old layout. But since it’s going into a new Content Management System, it will need to be updated a bit. As a result, I made it valid HTML 4.01 Transitional.

So far most of the test pages in the staging area, are completely HTML 4 Transitional VALID. I hear so often it’s “impossible” to make larger sites with content management systems valid… well I’m well under way.

Valid HTML is better for everyone, and I’m glad that the site will be valid.

At the current time, I’ve decided to officially freeze the current site. Only automated systems, and other key news systems will be updating as usual. But I’m done developing under the old system. I’m downloading an image of the current system, which I will use for porting the initial relaunch with.

It’s still a little while away, but this is a major shift from R&D to “staging”. After extensive work in this level, we will move to production.

All systems GO!

Categories
Programming

Update Movable Type, Blog Spam,

As the blogging community knows, MovableType (software that powers this blog) has been updated.

I upgraded this morning, and applied a little patch to replace characters such as & with their HTML entities (so the validator doesn’t bark).

If anyone notices an issue with the blog, please contact me and let me know. I don’t think there are any from what I can see.

On a side note, for a few weeks, I’ve been employing Jay Allen’s MT Blacklist. With great success I might add. One slipped by the other day, and that’s because I didn’t update the blacklist for a while. Now I’m more religious about it.

Now to tend to whatever is causing Bender to crash.

Categories
Programming

Updated Site

I updated this blog to take more advantage of CSS. Thankfully it did lower the page size a bit, and as there are more posts, it will be even more evident.

Only implemented on the homepage right now.

If anyone has suggestions on compatibility with all browsers (in particular improving the display on NN4), shoot me a line, or leave a comment. Would like to make the site look better in Netscape 4, and older browsers. But don’t want to sacrifice page load.

Also, see something else that can be cut out (without adverse effects to design, or compatibility) let me know.

Categories
Programming

Were going to CSS, HTML or XHTML

Ok, I’ve gottin quite a few emails, and a few comments on this. I’m going to turn the site a bit more CSS savvy, hence degrading the “experience” a bit more in older browsers. Mainly Netscape 4. Why? Because the page size is to big. I won’t do away with tables 100%. But will greatly reduce my dependency, and the amount of table related HTML being used. The page size on the homepage is just way to big. I think most would agree.

Some stats for the curious…

Continue reading “Were going to CSS, HTML or XHTML”
Categories
Mozilla

Disruptive Innovations

Looks like Daniel Glazman is serious (as if we thought he wasn’t). Disruptive Innovations apparently has a website. Composer++ is listed, though the product page isn’t complete yet.

Noticed this when my logs had a mention of it (look under press).

Wishing Daniel the best of luck. This is great for him, as well as the Mozilla community. Composer is a solid product, and seeing it continue to mature is a wonderful thing. It’s by far the best free WYSIWYG HTML editor. Now it’s just going to destroy the competition. How cruel. 😉

Categories
Programming

Porting to XHTML

I’m strongly thinking about porting this blog back into XHTML (same design, new code). Granted I loose you “older browser” fellows.

So my questions are as follows:

1. To go Xhtml or not?

2. If stay with HTML 4.01… how to make the page smaller, keep it valid, and retain all contents and formatting.

3. Just post less on the home page, so the page size is smaller?

4. Leave as is?

Please comment by the comments link below or email if you prefer.

Categories
Funny Web Development

Frontpage 2003 Ad Typo

Frontpage 2003 Ad Typo

Frontpage 2003 Ad Typo

Pro Tip: When creating an ad about professional code editing, make sure the most basic of code is correct.

Categories
Programming Web Development

Neet little effect and other html related goodness.

This little effect seems pretty cool. I think I’m going to have to try implementing it on the new design soon.

So far all is well with the new design. Tested in the following browsers:

  • IE 5.5 Windows
  • IE 6 Windows
  • IE 5 Mac
  • Netscape 4 Mac
  • Netscape 4 Windows
  • Mozilla 1.x/Derivatives
  • Safari
  • OmniWeb
  • iCab
  • Opera

All browsers render the site properly. Amazing what some valid HTML does.

Over the next few days I will try and consolidate some code a bit, as well as implement the design on the remaining pages.

Categories
Programming

Updating Layout…

Still working on the new design a bit. The home page is more or less done. Some tweeks and changes still needed. As well as getting it to validate properly.

I hope to have that done within the next few days. (if all goes according to plan). Follow this link To see if I’m at my goal yet.

New design scales very nicely. Try shrinking the window. You can get real small… and it still looks nice.

Also making use of several different usability components to make the site more intuitive and easier to navigate. If you can’t figure out what’s changed… but can easily use the site. Then it’s working well!