I've been designing and building web sites since 2003. This is my personal site. You'll find my work, insight and ramblings within
Opera 9.5 is has now been released. The browser underdog (and my personal favorite) now has more features than ever! It’s also faster (see my SlickSpeed test article) and includes lots more CSS3 features including media queries, full selectors capabilities and new properties like text shadows and box sizing.
Recently, I’ve been asked a lot of questions about CSS and my commitment to it. I’m a purist when it comes to the web. I firmly believe that the only way to create a web site is to use standards-compliant CSS that is cross-compatible with all major browsers. Javascript should only be used as a progressive enhancement technique and should certainly not be relied upon (yes, I’m looking at you ASP .NET). Most of my colleagues regard this stance as noble, but somewhat stupid in the “real world”, where it’s not always getting it done “right”, it’s just getting it done. Why is CSS considered such a black art?
With the impending release of Firefox 3, a new chapter to “browser wars” is upon us. In this short series, I’ll be looking at what each browser offers to a user, and hopefully pick a champion.
The first battleground is JavaScript. In the late 1990s, JavaScript was shunned by many web developers because of browser incompatabilities, bugs and that it wasn’t very useful for things other than fancy clock (which flash is better at anyway). Since the rise of the XmlHttpRequest, JavaScript has become a way to enhance a website and provide new ways of interacting with the users. Combine this with JavaScript libraries such as jQuery, mooTools, Prototype and DoJo, JavaScript has had a renaissance of biblical proportions. With the Web Standards Project releasing Acid 3 as a JavaScript test, the JavaScript comeback has been set high standards of compliance in the same way that Acid 2 did for CSS
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I’ve been using Opera since it reached version 9.0 in 2006. I have used it every day since in one form or another. I use Opera on my PA laptop, on my Mac, on my TV, my games console and on my Phone, and since Opera’s rendering engine is now built into some Adobe products (Photoshop, Dreamweaver and GoLive) I’m using Opera even when I don’t realise it. Read more…