Friday, May 19, 2006

Why does this blog not look right in Internet Explorer?

[for my most recent answer to this question, *WITH PICTURES*, see my post on October 6, 2006.]

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SHORT ANSWER:
  1. there are international guidelines for how to make web pages.
  2. there are international guidelines for how browsers display those web pages.
  3. this is so they look the same in all browsers ( eg. firefox, internet explorer, opera, mozilla, etc)
  4. most browsers follow those guidelines.
  5. internet exploror doesn't. and they know it.
  6. so webpage creators have to spend hours to get their webpages to even display in internet explorer.... if they can.
  7. thus, internet explorer is the bane of the webpage creator's existence.
  8. so do us a favor, and get firefox. or opera. or mozilla..... anything but internet explorer.
(short answer added september 2006)

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LONG ANSWER:

for example: when you widen and narrow the browser window, my main column should grow and shrink with it... but it does not in IE. the glassy background of my columns/header/footer should look like glass floating over the background, but it doesn't in IE - the pattern stays the same. and some things don't totally line up sometimes.

well, ok. after many hours (days!) hacking the template of this blog to get my sidebar to show up where it should - beside my main column - in internet explorer (while it's perfect in firefox), i feel i should write about why i reaally dislike internet explorer.

i am NOT an "i hate all things msn!" kind of person.

but i am learning how to code webpages, and learning how to do it "properly".... see, there is a group called the WC3 consortium that has guidelines out for web designing so that pages will look good in ALL browsers.... at least, all browsers that comply with their recommendations. problem is, while most browsers try very hard to be up-to-date on these things, internet explorer is waayyy behind. besides it's known security issues, it has it's very own way of rendering webpages for you to view that largely ignores the WC3 recommendations.

what happens then is that web designers spend many wasted - and costly - hours hacking away at their carefully compliant coding to get their pages to work in the very non-compliant IE...

IE is still the most used browser out there... so we developers (i use that term for myself rather lightly, as i'm new and inexperienced at all this) try to accomodate the masses... with many hours of labour to accomodate for a faulty browser!!!

why should we, the designers, accomodate the out-of-date?

why not stop using the out-of-date, at least until it comes up-to-date?

in which case, why spend wasted hours trying to get it to look right in a browser that's deliberately dragging it's feet?

so.... beyond basic usability of this page in IE, i'm not going to waste my time on hacks. if it doesn't look right, fine, it doesn't look right. your choice, as the browser. i strongly recommend you dump IE and use a different browser, firefox is great - i'm partial to it myself - but opera and safari, for example, also comply with WC3 standards, and thus work great. no browser is perfect; but these are all far better than IE. fine out what's available at BrowseHappy.

happy browsing!
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Outcast, Adopted.

THIS BLOG IS IN NEED OF AN OVERHAUL. there are posts from years back i would not be able to post in good conscience now. i plan to overhaul the blog, and either delete or add a disclaimer to those posts. but that is gonna take time....

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