Archive for November, 2004

Firefox AND Internet Explorer!?

Apparently the new Netscape browser has a drop-down menu option to toggle between the IE rendering engine and the Gecko rendering engine. (Gecko is the rendering engine shared by Firefox, Mozilla Suite, and Netscape 7.x.)

CNET reports that the Mozilla Foundation “welcomed the release”, noting that it’s based on the pre-1.0 engine. Apparently the final release of the new Netscape browser will be upgraded to the more recent (1.0) core.

As of 8 a.m. PST Tuesday, Netscape fans were test-driving a prototype Netscape browser that runs on two different browsing engines: the Mozilla Foundation’s Gecko engine, which powers up the Mozilla, Firefox and older Netscape browsers, and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer engine, which many consider the de facto Web standard.

One great thing about Firefox is its ability to be enhanced though “extensions“. Extensions are small add-ons that add new functionality to Firefox. They can add anything from a toolbar button to a completely new feature. They allow the browser to be customized to fit the personal needs of each user if they need additional features, while keeping Firefox small to download. Of the 159 listed on the extensions site, IE View for Windows provides this same functionality, toggling between IE and Firefox rendering engines.

All this Browser Proliferation almost makes me yearn for the easy days of bi-lateral browser wars.

My business card says I’m a Senior Web Developer. I’ve been asked a million times what I do, what that title means. It’s not easy to explain.

I tell my Grandmother that I’m in publishing. Close enough for somebody in their 90’s.

Sometimes I say I’m a Technical Designer or just a Designer. Other times I describe the Web Project Triangle: Project Management on one end, Design (visual, experience) on another, and Engineering (databases, servers) on the third. I say that Web Developers sit in the middle of that triangle, giving and receiving deliverables, and often acting as liason between those groups and practices.

Occassionally I say that “we’re the people with the most software”, which is really just another way of saying that I’m in the the middle of the Triangle. I often have MS Project, Word and Excel running to look at project plans, Gantt charts and task lists from Project Management. Add to that some combination of Photoshop, Illustrator, Viseo and maybe InDesign to handle deliverables from Design. From the Engineering world, I always have a local web server running with PHP and MySQL running, as well Unix utilities, bug tracking software, debugging suites… So there’s all that, plus all the software native to Web Development. (Scores of browsers, Homesite, screen rules and color management tools, diff-ing and testing software, and more….

For another take on the same question, read”What does a front-end web developer do?“. Author Christian Heilmann is the mind behind Unobtrusive Javascript and all the other great tools at onlinetools.org.

Undoing the Industrial Revolution (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox).

I don’t always read Jakob’s writing, but this one caught my attention. He makes a case that rings true for me. What do you think?

Summary:

The last 200 years have driven centralization and changed the human experience in ways that conflict with evolution. The Internet will reestablish a more balanced, decentralized lifestyle.

A report out today by The Gallop Organization “Third of Americans Say Evidence Has Supported Darwin’s Evolution Theory”.

Only about a third of Americans believe that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is a scientific theory that has been well supported by the evidence, while just as many say that it is just one of many theories and has not been supported by the evidence. The rest say they don’t know enough to say. Forty-five percent of Americans also believe that God created human beings pretty much in their present form about 10,000 years ago. A third of Americans are biblical literalists who believe that the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word.

Amazing. :(

I’ve been thinking about CSS hacks lately, so I thought I’d gather together some of the resources I’ve been using and articles I’ve been considering.

• Over on CNET, Michael Meadhra writes (yesterday) CSS: To hack or not to hack. While not introducing much new information, and it’s always useful to consider another professionals thought process and approach. In addition, he makes important reminders, including that our work is it’s highest quality when we
  

  [think] of design and coding as parts of the same process and [are] willing to go through multiple iterations of the process to refine [our] design. It doesn’t work if you approach coding as the task of precisely implementing a preconceived design.

• Doug Bowman has an article on his stopdesign site entitled Filtering CSS. The article gives some background on CSS hacks and filters, then introduces a new CSS filter that can be used to import a separate style sheet for IE5/Mac, named the IE5/Mac Band Pass Filter.
• Molly Holzschlag’s piece for informIT, Strategies for Long-Term CSS Hack Management is definitely worth reading.
• No hack list would be complete without at least a passing mention of Tantek’s Box Model Hack. Turns out I don’t use it that often, but you still gotta have it in your toolbox.
• If you’re not using del.icio.us, you definitely should be. Either way, you can find more CSS hack info in their collection: http://del.icio.us/tag/css-hacks
• In addition to those articles, there are a bunch of quality resources too: Centricle’s CSS Filters (css hacks) compatibility grid, Dithered’s CSS Filters main page, and the always useful CSS-Discuss Wiki has a dedicated page: http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=CssHack. If you still need more, there are about a quarter-million here.

Enjoy.

SEE THE ELEPHANT! - A Political Video Installation about the 2004 Republican National Convention
Created by Ryan Junell - Music by Lesser

About the movie:

“See the Elephant!” is an immerse four-screen video installation with surround sound audio that features convergent viewpoints during the 2004 Republican National Convention. The four video trajectories take place inside the RNC, outside the venue with the authorities, in the streets with the demonstrators, and at arms-length with mass media. Content for the projected piece includes natural sound, impromptu interviews, and overlapping content.

After touring with the video through the swing states in the weeks before the recent election, creator Ryan Junell brings this hour long political experience to his homebase of San Francisco. Proceeds from the screenings go directly to the creation of the interactive dvd of the installation. “See the Elephant!” dvds will be available for pre-order. See http://www.seetheelephant.org for more details about the installation.

Details:

Friday, November 26th
Saturday, November 27th

Seatings at 8pm and 9:30pm
$5 or $10 w/drink or $20 w/dvd
(tho the broke are warmly welcomed)

Studio 1-2-3
401 Alabama Street (@ 17th)
San Francisco

http://www.seetheelephant.org

If you’d like to attend any of these showings, please RSVP in the comments sections below.

In ryan’s email to me, he included the following quote

I know revisiting political stuff right now is kinda sensitive… but f%#k it. We witnessed so much crazy stuff that the mass media just didn’t want to describe. Half a million people showed up in the streets of NYC to protest the policies of the president and his administration. The Republican machine used their power of authority to suppress political dissent by arresting thousands of demonstrators. Meanwhile, oil men, fundamentalists, and actors took the stage inside Madison Square Garden to rally the conservative base on a platform of fear and war. This event is worth remembering.

ryan junell