Web standards and ethics.. maybe a little bit.

this might be in the wrong section, i'm not sure.
as a web designer, i have been going nuts about browser compatibility. i've come to hate internet explorer because it's so behind regarding web standards. many people think about security issues but i think about standards when it comes to browsers.
i use firefox to test my websites and most of the time, when i turn to internet explorer, the overall layout is all screwed up. i also feel that not following standards can make my life easier, because let's get real, the visitors don't give a rat's *** about standards, they just want a pretty, clean, and functionnal website. i hate that thought and for some time, i have stopped caring about making websites compatible with internet explorer, but of course, that leads to bad business since the majority use crappy IE. I also find very good websites like http://www.oak-brook.lib.il.us/ made by people who make websites just to do it and don't worry so much about web standards. And i also find many websites with all kinds of validators saying that they are well coded. And both kinds are successful So my question is, is this a personal judgement thing and am i right to care so much about web standards and be so pissed at internet explorer and all its users?

For what it's worth...

I think caring about web standards is good because it's inclusive. Maybe I want to start my own browser because I'm really smart and can do that kind of thing - if I choose to follow the standards I (should) know that any page designed to the standards will work in my browser. That's a good thing.

IE6 is full of bugs and hopefully in IE7 most of these bugs will be fixed - of course, the problem then might be that many sites depend on one of IE's bugs fixing another eg. The first bug ('* html' is parsed by IE but not other browsers) helps a second bug fix a third (IE doesn't understand minimum-height ('bug' 3), so we feed it 'height:100%' because it treats 'height' as 'minimum-height' (bug 2)...

If one bug were fixed in IE but not the others, we could have problems, so developers will probably have to go though their sites and take out a lot of the IE6 hacks or maybe even think of some new ones for the new bugs IE7 is bound to have.

In the long-term though, I think if everyone aims for standards (including Microsoft), then the internet becomes a lot more open and easy to use.

(Maybe)

Ahh Browsers, how I detest them...well IE an a few others anyway.

Some people use a browser and, since they aren't very computer literate they will use the same version of NN4 even to date, without even updating NN4 to it's current version. I have installed two browsers on my friends computer, who still used NN4. He didn't understand that they both pointed to the same internet. He thought there was one for each browser: "they look different" I'm prety sure he still uses NN even with Firefox installed and NN7

I understand what you mean when you say your layout goes flunk in IE. They have very poor support for CSS2. They have their OWN CSS tags incorporated, I don't use them except scroll bars.

I was lucky and the only thing IE does to my site is let it span the whole window length. Althgought this isn't what I want it doesn't make it look like franknestein either. I hope IE becomes useful in designing a web page. Now I just use it to make sure it interperts my site close enough.

I use Firefox and Opera 7 to do most of my site testing. I used to have a lot installed but I found that the majority of them gave me the same results. Also I've found a "site browsers testing" tutorial and it said that at the time of writing Opera 7 was the most current in standards and any site that looks good there will look good anywhere. I didn't find this to be entirely true though.



...and easier to program. That's what standards were introduced for wasn't it?

From my understanding, MS wouldn't mind defining some standards. They have submitted standards to the W3C that were rejected and made it into IE6 anyway... If I could find this site again I would post the link. It's on MS.com...somewhere.

it's very important to care about site validation, i never do it (don't have a time) that's why a lot of people treat me like an amateur and the worst thing is... they're might be right that's why i will do it ASAP






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projektowanie stron internetowych, prezentacje multimedialne - that's what i do

He he ,, Its funny the things we rant about :-)!! Companies will always do it their way.. where its possible to make a slight different they will. If no browsers were different in the way they manage and display the data sent and received, why have so many different browsers and not only one ??,, Paddings , margins default font sizes, its all a way to be different and claim their position in the market.

Its fun to be US! Because its a challenge to make a site the looks the same for all!!

<-- ok so I dont think its fun all the time :-) HE HE

your insane if you don't want to use standards.
and lazy. use an open source one at least if you don't want to take the time, or don't have the time. Standards are what pushes the envelope and creates innovation. meaning to us a more user friendly and accesible enviroment.

you and all should embrace these changes. before they are forced upon you. and you become obsolete.
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