As is usual, Google is pushing the Web forward with their innovations in Web technology – this time around, we have Chromeframe, a plug-in that gives IE Chrome browser capabilities … that is to say, HTML5 ability.
From Google:
Enable open web technologies in Internet Explorer
Google Chrome Frame is an early-stage open source plug-in that seamlessly brings Google Chrome’s open web technologies and speedy JavaScript engine to Internet Explorer. With Google Chrome Frame, you can:
* Start using open web technologies – like the HTML5 canvas tag – right away, even technologies that aren’t yet supported in Internet Explorer 6, 7, or 8.
* Take advantage of JavaScript performance improvements to make your apps faster and more responsive.
My take on this:
I’m not sure how practical this is for most web designers, but for the adventurous sort, this maybe something to explore. For instance:
– how well does the plug-in work?
– how easy is it to install: could you convince your IE7 and IE8 visitors to install it?
– can you degrade Chromeframe implementations gracefully?
So, if you are beginner or you are a hard-core in-your-face, I got no time to waste working web designer – forget this post for now.
In 2004, many a wannabe-nerds (aspiring web designers) expressed their frustrations to me about learning CSS – and so I created csstutorial.net with the aim simplifying CSS for the common man and woman.
… I succeeded it seems:
Hi Stefan,
Your CSS tutorial was easier and more helpful than the official Adobe training session I attended a couple of years back.
Now I finally get it.
Thank you!
Geof
And I have hundreds more like this one.
Anyway, 2004 became 2005 and then 2010 and csstutorial.net wasn’t looking too pretty anymore. And so like all old timers, worn by the sun and the passing of years, it was time for a facelift!
WordPress behind the scenes
Not wanting to be a hypocrite, I walked my talk and used WordPress as the engine behind the new csstutorial.net web site – basically a new WordPress theme was created. We used WordPress ‘pages’ to replace the old static pages from the original site and now we have all the power of WordPress at our disposal moving forward.
… So yes, csstutorial.net not only has a new face, but a new engine as well. You should see new CSS related content their too … in the not so distant future. So check out the new site, and let me know what you think with comments here.
I’m a big fan of Flash and it has many uses .. one of them though, is NOT to create an entire website with it.
My top four reasons for not creating a Flash only website:
Limited search engine visibility.
Harder to update because you have to crack open Flash source files.
Harder to find Flash developers/designers than it is HTML/CSS nerds.
Apple’s iPhone and iPad can’t see Flash.
Learn from the past …
Back in the 1990’s, Flash only websites became a big thing for a while … then people realized that it was a bad idea, and the Web returned to traditional HTML and CSS based web sites. Let’s not make the same mistake.
Attack of the KILLER APPLE
Another fact that should make you reconsider Flash only sites, is that Apple is now in open warfare against Flash, where they will not let Flash work on the very popular iPhone and soon to be released (with much hype) iPad. That means that a Flash only website cannot be seen by millions of iPhone users.
Flash should only be used for:
Application development.
Only in parts of your HTML web sites – to do things like play video, audio or some other multimedia use.
This short article may piss-off some Flash maniacs … but what can I say, sometimes the truth hurts.
I don’t want to bore you guys to tears, but Apple’s latest move to not support Flash (and thus 99% of web video) on the iPad is very disturbing.
The facts are simple:
Millions of web pages with Flash content will break on iPhones and iPads.
Like it or not Flash is ubiquitous.
Flash is controlled by Adobe but free to anyone to write code against.
Apple is doing this to try and control content distribution – IMHO.
HTML 5’s video support is years away from being an option to use on commercial web sites.
Since Flash is not supported by the iPad or the iPhone and since the vast majority of web surfers don’t have HTML 5, if we want to deliver video on the Web, we have to support two methods of delivery.
… Just like it was during the 1990’s browser wars, where we had to write code for IE and code for Netscape. Thanks Apple for bringing back the good old days! Jerks.
Apple has to stop being a bunch of iJerks and support Flash.
It seems that Apple wants to start a new 1990’s style browser war – this really sucks!
Instead of the war being centered around HTML and the DOM, Apple has decided to make it about rich media delivery – Apple does not like Adobe Flash and they are not supporting it on iPad and iPhone.
… Hey Apple, did you hear that Flash IS THE Web standard for rich media?
Because everyone uses Flash to embed video and audio on the Web today, blocking Flash on the iPhone and iPad (with special exceptions made for Youtube of course!) … is NO DIFFERENT than the proprietary tag wars of the 1990’s between Microsoft and Netscape.
In the original browser war’s, it was all about the software, Netscape vs. Explorer … this time the browser is the physical device .. iPad and iPhone vs practically every other device in the world that can surf the Web. Man this is really beginning to piss me off!
With the HTML/DOM browser wars, in the end, everybody lost … and I lost a lot of hair trying to build cross browser compatible websites!!
The iPhone and iPod Touch were the first devices to popularize surfing the Web from a small screen, using multitouch input to allow users to zoom in and out of Web sites that were originally designed to be seen on larger screens. But the iPhone and iPod Touch don’t support Flash, which is widely used for online multimedia content, and Apple hasn’t signalled that it’s interested in adding Flash support to its line of mobile devices.
… This doesn’t solve our web browsing issue but at least we can enjoy the creativity of the millions of Flash developers out there on the iPad and iPhone – something Apple does not want it seems.
Over the last 15 years, I’ve noticed that artist (including web designers) develop or adopt a distinct and consistent style that rarely changes.
… It seems that like leopards, artists can’t change their spots. It’s as though the brain gets hardwired.
We are not alone .. we lowly web designers stand with giants …
Consider some of these big (huge) names:
The Beatles
Charles and Ray Eames
Pablo Picasso
In the above, we have incredibly talented people who each defined a recognizable style. What’s interesting, is that once you’re familiar with say the way the Beatles sounded, you didn’t have to know the song to know it was the Beatles.
… The most recognizable style for me though, is probably Picasso’s … some weird looking stuff!
My point: Though these iconic artists were incredibly talented, like most artists, they had a style and they carried that style to the end.
Every now and then I post a blog entry based on emails that I get. This time, someone asked a bunch of questions about SEO and gaining organic position on the search engines.
Because I am a lazy guy, I am just writing the answers to the questions … I think you can figure out what the questions were.
My ‘killer’ SEO reality-check tips:
Hi Wendy,
No one can guarantee #1 listings … not even Google! There is constant competition and thus positions will shift with time.
…. But, you can improve your positions on the search engines with proper SEO and web marketing efforts. In todays world, where there are a lot of websites to compete against … it takes work.
Are there ONLY three people in all of Australia who know how to position sites on Google properly? I doubt it … and I think there are probably more. On the other hand, there are a lot of people who CLAIM they know what they are doing yet they have nothing to show for it!
Would you need to rebuild your website completely – to be search engine friendly? Probably not, but you may have to restructure things if it is a really big mess SEO wise.
We just launched the our video tutorial subscription service (Killersites University) about a week ago and we are getting very positive feedback so far:
I am getting through them easier than I thought…up to the second CSS lesson. Great site, by the way. I ALMOST signed up for a college/university course. Very glad I didn’t. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
Mike Ouellette
Provincial Student Information Systems Consultant
And about our PHP training video courses:
Great!!! I am just getting started learning Php so I had purchased the book “PHP and MySQL Web Development – great book but I found your videos much easier to understand. Thank you for making PHP alittle easier to comprehend : ) I know I have alot to learn ahead of me though.
Sincerely,
David
… There’s more, but you get the idea.
More video added to the collection
As promised, we already added new content to the University – about 40 minutes of video on basic web design, WordPress and embedding videos with Youtube. Not a bad start, but we are just warming up … our authors are working on new content (videos and articles) and so you can expect much more to come out soon.
