Thursday, October 7, 2010

Browser Wars and Web Design Ramblings

Browsers

OK so I lived through the browser wars and was vaguely familiar with them.  I knew Microsoft was sued by the Dept. of Justice for using their industry influence to force IN on users and I recall using Netscape Navigator in the 90s and remember all the free Netscape CD-ROMs I received in the mail and in magazine subscriptions.  And I even will admit to being an AOL user and reveling when AOL purchased Netscape.  I am a computer geek and lived these years with my eyes not completely shut.

But I was surprised to learn that Firefox (a distant cousin to Netscape) had surpassed IE in use on the internet in Dec. 2009/Jan. 2010.  IE has sense regained usage but it seems it is merely a player in the browser market, not the King.

And so I look forward to standards (kind of like the rule of law - something a lawyer is cognizant of) helping all these various browsers play nice.  I am a big proponent of the free market so let the features, bells and whistles ensue as long as the browser is stable - for, yes, I also recall the early days of browsers that routinely crashed - something that digital natives are less familiar with. :-)

Web Design

It takes a lot of separate html files and folders to make a decent-sized, functional website.  It's a maze out there, boys and girls.  And it's great to have maps and plans before embarking into Web Creation Land.  I think I will be coding right up until Christmas - so much for overambition!

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