Whats the Plan?

I’m going to set myself a number of  HTML 5 and CSS 3 projects and then well basically see what happens. I want to find out its pitfalls and where it just plain rocks now I’m not going to create Sindustries in HTML 5 I’ll create a “sub-site” in which I’ll again design and build a site using HTML5 & CSS 3.

The site must have: -

1. Valid XHTML 5
2. Valid CSS 3
3. Use techniques such as border-radius etc
4. Use other techniques
5. ROCK!

What Do You Aim to Achieve?

Personally I aiming to go on a total learning curve, I remember back in the day when CSS was the big thing and finding out the latest techniques and pitfalls. I want to be there and be at the front line kinda thing and help myself and help other web designers dealing with HTML 5 and CSS 3

Sounds Interesting, Lets See What Your Going to Build.

When I get round to the design I shall post it here check back soon for more Details!

Now Sindustries is doing very well currently but I want the site to be more well …. me!

I want to show you that I am a professional web designer that can design AND code like nothing you have ever seen before!

The new site is going to be more portfolio and project focused as well as maintaining good/funny design aesthetics, this time round the site will be CSS & XHTML Valid it will be IE6 99.99% bug free from the very beginning .

Now here’s a run down of all the website features I plan on implementing: -

• Jquery image carousel
• Ajax comments
• Lots & lots more Widgets
• A better image gallery for displaying my Portfolio
• Better site functionality and more interaction!
• This time round skin everything when it comes to html
• Can I has unordered and ordered lists now plz ?
• A search Page that is easy to work …. and helps you find what your looking for

+ Loads more fancy features

The new site launch will be in August so keep your eyes peeled !

Yes I’m still looking for a web designer role, I’ve been fixing up my CV but that’s getting done as we speak and then next week I’m going to phone & email until I get somewhere.

If you know of any web designer jobs in either Glasgow or Edinburgh please email me.

I’m currently working on a website for a bridal wear shop. I have a little flash work to do for it then its mostly content and picture content that’s left to do, its a simple XHTML/CSS valid site that will use sIFR and probably lightbox for the image gallery it will turn out awesome though.

I’ve been having a look at the release notes for  Firefox 3.5 they are seriously coming on leaps and bounds in the mozilla camp!

I hope they are the first browser to fully support HTML 5. I really want to have a tinker with it!

Recently I installed the latest version of  Tweetdeck an extremely powerful tool for twitter, with such features as being able to view peoples tweets, replies to your tweets and private DM’s and you get notified if someone makes a tweet and able to manage multiple accounts!

Now if that doesn’t get you going then your a little dead inside.

Sindustries takes your through some of the good and more so the bad bits with you in regards to internet explorer 6.

IE6 was released August 27, 2001  that means web designers today are fixing problems 7 years old!

I’ve had many troubles with IE6, it can be the biggest pain in the butt fixing sites broke in IE6 however its the problems and the pains that can make you a much better coder and can help you spot where your going wrong when building a site instead of fixing the problems with the site at the end.

Now IE6 as you know was released on August 27, 2001 and that day was a Monday, It now features DHTML support and in-line frames and partial CSS 1 support.

Coding for Internet Explorer 6

Correcting bugs in IE6 will make you a better coder.

There is a multitude of IE6 bugs such as the double margin bug, step down bug and so now if you build a site today chances are you will have 1 or 2 IE6 bugs.

The majority of the problems are easily fixed however OK it might not make you totally 1337  but its good practice to at least find out where your going wrong.

When you discover you have some problems with IE6 don’t get cross with yourself take it in your stride and start looking on Google for the bug fix’s but do take the time to remember and understand them.

Adding IE6 compatibility will make your site more presentable.

Squashing all the bugs for IE6 will ensure that that your site will be view able in IE6 combine this with cross browser testing and everyone can view your website correctly and the way you want.

The hacks for IE6 are a learning curve.

At some point in time your going to want a site that can use .Png’s and you want them without the Grey border you want them to work!

Now doing this isn’t done by normal means and requires a IE6 Png hack OK you might be limited in regards that you need to insert title and width and you can repeat a .png image but the fact remains it allows you to use .Png’s for IE6

Knowing and understanding the bugs are valuable knowledge.

I really can’t stress enough how valuable it is to actually know the most common bugs and even some of the more uncommon bugs its something you can add to your arsenal and can only make you the stronger and remember time is money friend! The less time you spend fixing problems the more time you have to address other issues.

Not coding for IE6 could affect traffic.

The following figures are from W3C’s latest Internet Explorer user count on the internet (Source: W3C browser stats ).

• 3.5% for IE8
• 23.2% for IE7
• 15.4% for IE6

Even though IE8 has just been launched a lot of the browser market are still using IE6 and I wouldn’t even class the people using IE7 a good thing.

Saying this though If your only getting 3-5 users a month using IE6, I believe  this number is good if you were getting 100,0000 page views a month and that number of IE6 users was 3000-5000 I would strongly suggest you make your site render correctly in IE6.

If you not going to fix your errors at least display a “error”.

If your going down the path of not fixing your website for IE6 you should at least proved a message that shows users there browser is out of date such as this Jquery IE6 error message – Its simple and presentable and allows users to find there way to the most up-to-date browser for them and hopefully user will update the browser and then more importantly come back with a better browser.

Conclusion.

My conclusion is simple Internet Explorer 6 is for now something you cant ignore you can’t just leave it alone to gather and expect the user to update there browseron there own you need to either tell them there browser is out of date or fix your website to render correctly in IE6 from a production and marketing aspect its an issue you must address for time is money friend.

I believe that to rid the internet of IE6 your either going to need a miracle/act of god or come up with IE9 or some sort of warning is made by the W3C,