2008 February Archive

Three things I’d like to see in Firefox 3.1

Let me say up front that from what I’ve seen of Firefox 3 so far, it really looks to be a knockout browser; it’s light, fast, extensible, and the interface is flawless. The one and only thing that’s disappointed me slightly, however, is the lack of new front-end features for developers like myself to take advantage of.

Online applications have been given a huge boost with offline storage and new HTML 5 features, but where are the shiny graphical hooks for us to play with? Below are three new features I’d like to see implemented in Firefox 3.1 (which I’ve just made up).

NB: This might seem a bit previous, as Firefox 3 hasn’t actually been released yet, but I’ve been using the nightlies for a while and it seems unlikely that any of these features will be implemented before launch.

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hr height > 100px; a new IE bug?

Is it possible that I’ve found a new IE bug, after all these years? And, worse still, a bug that wasn’t fixed in IE7? I’ve just spent half an hour looking for a solution, and I can’t find a single mention; surely someone has come across this before me?

It involves horizontal rules and the way they are displayed by Intenet Explorer, which seems to set a height limit that other browsers don’t. It’s probably easier if I explain it.

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Future of Web Design 2008

My exceptionally supportive bosses have offered to buy me a Conference Pass for Future of Web Design 2008 on April 17, so if anyone reading this is attending and feels like meeting up, do get in touch.


Explaining the C in CSS

After being a developer for a while you sometimes forget that there are a lot of people still learning. With that in mind – and working on the assumption that the more information that’s available, the easier it is to find – I’ve decided to start an occasional series of web development basics tutorials.

One of the things I see a few people struggle with when learning CSS is the concept of the cascade. I admit that as your stylesheets get more and more complicated, so the cascade gains in complexity with it. At it’s core, however, it’s pretty simple. There are three things you need to keep in mind: order, specificity, and inheritance.

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CSS improvements in Firefox 3 – Part One

The latest version of the Firefox browser is due for release in the near future, and the nightly and beta versions I’ve been testing show that it’s taking a big step forward from its predecessor. As well as the many usability and performance enhancements, there are a whole host of improvements to the engine; mainly (but not exclusively) geared towards web applications with the implementation of HTML5 events and attributes. SVG support is greatly improved (although I think they’ve missed a trick by not allowing it in the img element), and JavaScript version 1.8 is included.

With all the new goodness, it seems that CSS might have been left behind a little. I can’t complain too much, as many fixes have been made to allow the browser to pass the Acid 2 test, but it is slightly disappointing when you see the advances Opera and Safari have made in the implementation of CSS 3 features (even with proprietary prefixes).

That said, there are a number of new features which are worth bringing to light.

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Aside

I’ve updated my Speaking page to include more conferences, more videos, and a little on my speaking requirements and preferences. I’m planning to cut down on the number of talks I give in 2014 (twelve is too many), but am always open to interesting offers and opportunities, so please get in touch if you’re organising an event.

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