Oh my. Firefox goodness and web tricks

[matgb]

Old news to some, but to others, the wonders that is a decent internet browser (ie pretty much anything that isn't made by Microsoft) is still lost on them. So, reading devils_kitchen this morning, I come across this post linking to his company's homepage. Now, I know that Microsoft's default internet browser is crappy, but do you?

Here's a good reason. Go to his homepage, and hover the mouse over the 'start' button at the top right. Now, if you're using IE, that's just a link to his home. If you're using, for example, firefox, then, using nothing more complicated than a Cascading Style Sheet (something that is simple enough for me to understand and read, even if I can't (yet) code it), you get a full drop-down site map. How cool is that? In Internet Explorer or other crappy browser platforms, you don't get any of the coolness.

So, if you're still using IE, why not get a free copy of Firefox and give money to a good cause? (NB, disclaimer here, giving the money to a good cause involves using the Google version of Firefox, which some people, notably daweaver think is a bad plan) To get it, go here to timworstall's site, and follow the links. Google gives money for every time a person DLs Firefox and uses is once. That's all you have to do, try it.

If you'd rather try a different browser but not trust Mr Google, then there's a decent summary of them on Too Cool for IE. OK, it's midday, there are twelve hours (and one second) left in 2005. I may do a proper 'my life' update before I leave to go out. May. Don't hold your breath ;-)

Edit: added screenshot

Comments

[silentgreeneyes.livejournal.com]

Considering my IE is now ridddled with spyware that tries to reinstall itself every damn time I open it (which thanks to Symantec doesn't happen) I kind of have to use Firefox.
Annoyingly the only way to stop that is to reinstall Windoze, but due to a dead CD drive.... that ain't happening.
So anyway..

Have a good time tonight, whatever you're up to.
Oh and email me? Since you're avoiding msn, understandably, I need to use your ear as a general sounding board again.
My life has got complicated in a silly way.. and um.. yeah heh

See you next year :)

[doccy.livejournal.com]

Uhm... Sorry to point this out - I'm using IE, and CSS works fine for me. Even on the page you linked to (says services/company/links/contact/[home] as a drop-down).

[matgb]

Weird; doesn't work properly for my IE at all (I checked). Have you tried it with Fx or similar?

I know that IE is notorious for not rendering css properly, but I'm not enough of a code monkey to get the reasons.

[halcyon-shift.livejournal.com]

Works for me on IE too.

2 cents more, the standards are different betwen browsers (and a bitch to account for sometimes) generally speaking you can do much more with IE and have to scale back to standard for Mozilla. And don't even get me started on Safari. *eye tic*.

They also treat some elements of CSS entirely differently, so it was a case until not to recently that the CSS on that page would have worked in IE but probably not so well in Mozilla.

[matgb]

OK, weird. with my Ie (6.**) it does nothing; with Fx, it gives me the screenshot above.

Are you two using some souped up version of IE, or have they released 6.5 or 7 without me caring?

Even the guy that designed the coding
http://www.meyerweb.com/eric/css/edge/menus/demo.html
says it doesn't work on IE.

[halcyon-shift.livejournal.com]

Can't speak for doccy, I'm just using 6.0.2. Honestly, I'm surprised that it's not working - it's like a Twilight Zone moment when you have a case of IE not displaying and Mozilla displaying. I'm as aware as the next person that IE has its large gaping problems, but it does usually handle css better, if not to standard. Frankly, standard sucks monkey *g*

[doccy.livejournal.com]

Aye, 6.0.2 here too...

Ah, tricks...

[(Anonymous)]

I must confess that there is a little Javascript Library, called "IE7" in the header of the page, that makes IE6 Win behave rather better than it would normally do. Whether this works rather depends on your Javascript settings. The "fixed image", i.e. the big flower, works properly with this Library in.

The Library doesn't, however, work at all on IE 5 Mac, and neither does the menu. Bizarrely, the "fixed image" works fine natively, which it does not on 6. So frustrating...

DK

Re: Ah, tricks...

[matgb]

So you're cheating it then? What good is that as an example if it's been fudged? Gah!

Aren't referral logs great?

[paulatpingu.livejournal.com]

For those of you that don't already know, the whole CCS thing is covered pretty well over at theAcid Test, which gives a bit of detail about CSS issues and stuff.

It also gives a nice simple graphics test to illustrate it's point, and although Firefox still fails the test, it gets a hell of a lot closer than IE does. (And I'm pretty sure that the beta version of IE 7.0 fails too, for what it's worth)

To precis my argument...

[daweaver.livejournal.com]

Google is collecting a lot of data about individual people, and the company's bar will report even more information back to the HQ. Being based in the US, Google has no meaningful privacy policy as we Europeans understand it - for instance, there's no way for individuals to get their data out of Google's system, and Google asserts the right to sell or give this information to anyone.

I would recommend that people get Firefox (http://www.getfirefox.com/) as it was intended to be. Google is paying intermediaries 80 euro cents to download their toolbar; is your privacy worth that little?

Re: To precis my argument...

[matgb]

Agreed, the toolbar worries me a bit, I'm not using it. Partially because I don't want my browsing recorded, and partially also because most of the functions it gives are already in firefox. That's why I linked to the Too Cool site, which gives all the options; I'd be tempted by Opera if I wasn't already using Fx, and besides, I cut my 'net teeth on Netscape, IE always annoyed me.

I am using gmail, but I'm also keeping my other email addresses and my work address, I've balanced out the concerns over the benefits.

I'm partially tempted to DL the toolbar from Tim, use it once, then destroy it, just to get them to give away money for nothing. But I'm a little bothered about legacies and I'm not that good a techie; I'll likely do it on the old PC when I next boot it up to transfer files.

I liked your Correspondents predict thing; I was cooking through it at lunchtime, I'll listen again tomorrow I think.