Archive for the ‘CSS’ Category

An open letter to Microsoft RE: Internet Explorer Heartache

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Subject: Compensation for heartache
To: Microsoft
From: Pete Peterson

Hi Microsoft,

My name is Pete, and I have been doing work on the web for about 10 years now. Although I do not blame you (Microsoft) for the active use of Internet Explorer across the inter webs, you did however produce this atrocious piece of software. The versions have been steadily getting better, but, there is this thing called the a “standard” for web delivered information which would be great if you could find time to read them and apply them to how Internet Explorer renders web pages.

Here is a web address (also called a URL) for reference: http://www.w3.org/standards/

As I mentioned before, I don’t blame you (Microsoft) for the hundreds of thousands of people who still use your archaic browser (specifically IE 6), but since it was you that produced it, I feel I should be compensated for the countless hours spent in hacking html, css, javascript to get your browser to display the way it should. Not to mention all the aspirin, ibuprofen, coffee, Valum, whiskey that I have had to consume in order to endure having to work with this shoddy piece of ether that has been the bane of my existence since I decided on this career path.

I believe that $5000.00 is fair. Please enclose a check payable to Peter Peterson. No hard feelings.

Regards,

Pete

————————————–
My customer support id for this message is 1135554260
please feel free to follow along.

[EDIT]

I recieved a response from Microsoft regarding my gripe:

For replacement media or hardware please contact the Microsoft Order Desk by calling (800) 360-7561. Their hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 5:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. Pacific Time.

Please note this is an unmonitored alias. If you have further questions for customer service please contact us by Email: https://support.microsoft.com/contactus/emailcontact.aspx?scid=sw;en;1208&ws=orderautoreply

Thank you,
Microsoft Customer Service

I guess they aren’t going to pay me.

CSS Framework 960: A quick review

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

I’ve toyed with a few CSS frameworks in the past such as Yahoo!’s YUI framework, but 960 is the best I’ve come across so far. Here is what they provide:

  • A flexible framework for creating your designs in a grid based layout
  • Templates for doing your design work and have it fit nicely into a grid
  • Simple, understandable markup where if you revisit your code in a month you won’t be stuck saying “Huh?”.
  • Light weight, the CSS (minified) is only about 4Kb.

(more…)

Ah the fun world of 404 pages

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

If you could add some sort of interesting-ness to a common problem, does that make it an oportunity? Absolutely! When someone accidentally hits a page that doesn’t exist on your site, the standard 404 page doesn’t do much, if if you entice the poor misguided traveler, they might stick around and see what you have to offer.

Enter the fun world of custom 404 pages, here is mine. I have included the source code at the bottom of this post including the original flash file I used to create this. Feel free to use it, change it, distribute it as you see fit.


(more…)