That looks pretty
Clients often take the wrong approach when specifying requirements, by using examples of what they have seen on other websites. Hence proliferation of jQuery/AJAX madness, contradictory functionality. Instead of thinking about what they need, they choose what they want, based on what they see on other websites. How many times have designers heard “just make the site look like that one”? [...]
HTML5 WebSockets
Up to now, the main buzz around HTML5 has been playing video without javascript (notably AJAX), and the rounded corners. Hardly felt revolutionary. But then I came across another interesting feature that HTML5 and compatible browsers could deliver. Real-time interaction, using websockets. http only allows one way traffic, i.e. a request and response never happen [...]
How to code with no standards … by .NET
Coding standards on .NET projects is traditionally poor – I don’t know if this is related to the type of developer who ends up in .NET world, or the awkward nature of the main toolset (Visual Studio). Or a general problem endemic in modern developers – we all have our unfavourite tasks, but we are [...]
Modernizr 2
Modernizr is absolutely essential for cross-browser CSS, if you want to use some of the new CSS3 elements (Modernizr also covers Javacript and HTML5 cross-browser issues). Instead of relying on more flaky methods of browser detection, it works on simple principle of checking what properties the browser supports. I havent delved into the complete potential [...]
IE=DUMPREP
IE, a favourite generator of dumprep files, is skipping over the fact IE8 is a pile of coding crap, and giving both coders and testers pointless headaches. As with Vista, IE8 suffered from a chronic lack of testing. Something so important as a browser should not be released in half-baked state, expecting the users to [...]
Internationalisation Support Test Page
Firstly, verify your browser can support this anyway by viewing this page. Once done, save the page HTML and upload to your own web server. Not an extensive test by any means, but a good indication of your website’s support for different character sets.
