2007 November Archive

Infuriating HTML quiz

How many HTML elements can you name in five minutes? Sounds like it should be easy, but after the initial burst your mind suddenly goes blank. I only got a rather shameful 45…


I want my Email Standards

[We work] with email client developers and the design community to improve web standards support and accessibility in email.

The Email Standards Project

It’s fair to say that a large chunk of the web industry now understands the importance of standards; from browser makers to designer/developers, we’ve taken on board the years of evangelising by early adopters and in turn it informs everything we do (I sincerely hope I’m speaking for the majority here).

But there’s one area of web development where standards break down; where we place elements where they’re not supposed to go, where we (whisper it) use tables for layout. Not because we want to, but because we have to. That area is, of course, HTML emails.

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My favourite features in Firefox 3 are in Opera

I’ve been playing with the Firefox 3 nightlies for quite a while now so the first beta release didn’t really hold any great surprises for me. The updated rendering engine is fast and clean, and it’s got lots of nice new features which make it a treat to use. Most of my favourite new features are already in Opera 9.5, however; and one that isn’t could really do with the Opera touch.

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The future of email design

Short and interesting slide presentation (with summary) from the guys at Campaign Monitor on the general state of HTML email since 1998, and it’s potential for the future: The future of email design. I’m really looking forward to the launch of the email standards project, as HTML emails give me a pain in the neck.


video element support in browsers

Firefox has experimental support. Opera has experimental support. And now, Webkit has experimental support. The new HTML5 <video> element is getting support from a large part of the browser market.

According to the spec, User agents should support Ogg Theora video and Ogg Vorbis audio, as well as the Ogg container format; Firefox and Opera do so natively, while Webkit does so with a plugin for Quicktime (see Xiph.org).

According to my site stats – which are very far from being representative – roughly 60% of my visitors use one of the three browsers mentioned above; that’s a pretty big potential market. And remember, what the geeks use now, everybody will use in a year or two.


Where is Safari 3?

Why hasn’t Safari 3 come out of Beta yet? Leopard was released weeks ago, and Safari 3.04 was included in that; presumably that was a full release version and not a Beta, so why hasn’t a full release happened for other OS’s yet? I understand the Windows version might be delayed a little, but the Tiger version?


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Aside

I’ve updated my Speaking page to include more conferences, more videos, and a little on my speaking requirements and preferences. I’m planning to cut down on the number of talks I give in 2014 (twelve is too many), but am always open to interesting offers and opportunities, so please get in touch if you’re organising an event.

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