One of the major pains of web development is having to factor in users with “non-standard configurations”. What looks good on your machine doesn’t mean it will for a proportion of your users. However, this no-flash warning up on the South Park website is pure genius, as is the 404. I wish I was given the green light at work to do this!
Category: Web Development
Safari 3.1 kicks ass
Apple have updated Safari to version 3.1 to include support for a lot of cutting-edge technology (including client-side database storage), along with adding a native developer dropdown (enabled within the preferences section). With Firefox 3, Opera 9.5 coming soon and, erm, IE8, it’s looking like the browser market is about to make web developer’s lives a lot more interesting soon.
By “interesting” I of course mean more difficult!
P.S. Visit this page in Safari 3.1 to see some funky CSS animation. Coo!
SWFObject 2.0
The new SWFObject is out. There are two main ways to embed Flash content on a page, with Option 2 sounding like the best fit for the rules/regulations we have to adhere to for work (progressive enhancement, no click-to-activate rubbish in IE, you HAVE to have JS to view the Flash, etc). Option 2 follows a similar method to SWFObject 1.5 as well.
Will have to look into the documentation in detail and try out some examples on a range of browsers if I have the time…
Revised Meyer CSS reset stylesheet
Death of the Netscape browser
AOL, who these days own Netscape, have announced that they’re to cease development of the browser. I’ve mixed feeling weirdly enough, although from a professional point of view it’s good news as it’s one less browser to have to test websites against in the long term.
When I started out developing websites, Netscape was the browser our company mainly tested against, mainly because it was a lot more powerful and popular than the Microsoft browser at the time. As time progressed this situation obviously changed, but there was a time when companies proudly displayed “built for Netscape Navigator” icons at the bottom of their sites.
I don’t think anyone has seriously used Netscape for years; it kinda turned into a weird mish-mash of Firefox and IE in the end, and because they haven’t managed to make a dent in IE’s market share they’ve decided to quit.
Unofficial Wii Opera SDK released
Google sitemaps now do video
Microsoft removing Eolas “click to activate” behaviour
If you’ve worked with Flash and Internet Explorer within the past few years, this will be a godsend. It should have accessibility benefits too, as sites which aren’t embedding Flash via JavaScript won’t have to click into content anymore.
Stupid ruling in the first place. Another example of money coming before the best interests of the internet and its users.
Adobe Flash Player Administration Guide
When I get the chance I plan on picking this article about Flash 8 and 9 installations apart, as Flash can seemingly do strange things depending on how it’s installed (judging by past experience at work).
Straight link to the PDF here.
H.264 (mp4) support in Flash
The third beta of the Flash player on Adobe Labs will support H.264 video, with full support in the “proper” version of the plug-in coming in the 4th quarter of this year.
Big news, and a big step towards taking on Silverlight. Lots of detailed insider information on this announcement can be found on kaourantin.net, with other sites I’ve read this morning including Yahoo!, Aral Balkan, and Flashmagazine.