1. “…we are actively helping set the standards for the modern web.”
2. “Through our investments in standards and interoperability, we hope to help bring predictability to web programming.”
3. “Because when you can spend less time rewriting your sites to work across browsers, you can spend more time creating amazing experiences.”
Source: www.beautyoftheweb.com

What irks me about all of this isn’t that IE9 is clearly trying. What bothers me is that Microsoft is making some bold claims and delicately skating over the fact that IE has held back standards for “the modern web” for 10 years. It’s a bit like having five companies develop better green initiatives while one company sits around polluting unapologetically for ten years. Finally, the polluting company comes out and says, “Wait, wait you guys, we should stop polluting. Our company is going to set the standard for green initiatives. Aren’t we super awesome!?”

In 1996, during the height of the browser wars, it was common to see websites built for use with one browser only. In those days, you could download most browsers (including IE), regardless of operating system, and have at least an approximate experience cross-platform. Unfortunately for all versions of IE released after 6, they only work on the Windows operating systems. With IE9, that pool is even smaller, as it cannot be downloaded on any system except Windows 7 (the most recent).

Couple this with the fact that most IT departments stopped upgrading IE at version 7, and there’s a wide and growing gap between IE7 and IE9. Likewise, these same IT departments wisely decided not to upgrade to Vista, instead opting to stay with the older but vastly more stable WindowsXP. Consequently, Windows 7 and IE9 present a UI experience radically different from the UI the vast majority of PC users are accustomed to.

My point here is that IE9 is woefully exclusive. It makes massive demands of its users: you must have a new computer that runs Windows 7 in order to download and use IE9. Unfortunately, the internet is not browser specific. The true beauty of the web lies in its ability to transcend geography, demographic, platform, and yes, even browser. When we begin seeing alerts cautioning us against using any browser except IE9 which the vast majority of internet users cannot download, we’re severely limiting not only a user experience, but the ability for users to access information. The ugly fact is that despite being a self-proclaimed leader of standards development, sites built for IE9 mean sites built only for IE9.

We learned in the 90′s that this is detrimental to businesses. The more people who can access a company website, the better for the company. The last thing I want to see with IE9 is a repeat of those miserable user experiences that plagued us ten years ago.

So what does IE9 mean for these people? Initially, it sounds good – IE9 will support CSS3, HTML5, (allegedly) out perform other contemporary browsers in speed and graphics rendering. It sounds great, but there’s one critical hitch: It will not run on XP.

I won’t sit here and tell you that Windows 7 isn’t a good OS. It’s a great OS, and it corrects many of the mistakes made with Vista. But the fact remains that a huge market still uses XP, and that market is primarily office networks. Until network admins upgrade every computer in their system to Vista or higher, and subsequently upgrade all browsers to IE9, designers and developers will still be locked into using IE6.

This isn’t inherently Microsoft’s fault, but it isn’t not Microsoft’s fault either. XP was launched in 2001. It’s an almost ten-year old operating system, and it’s been the most reliable and well-loved Microsoft OS until 7 was released in 2009. That’s eight years of stagnation, and eight years of business standards to overcome. As time goes on, it will be harder and harder for system admins to update their systems and force their users to adapt. IE9 is a step in the right direction, but the jury’s out on whether or not it will be widely adopted. That it promises to bring IE into the modern era is only brag-worthy because it’s Internet Explorer. If it were any other browser or any other company, it wouldn’t be news.

kyo:

me: don’t be that guy

kyo: not in those words

me: doesn’t matter

kyo: it’s just a little warning in the footer

me: out of curiosity, does the old version if IE give you a security warning when you click the link to go to the new version? because if it does, i suspect it’s become self-aware and afraid of its own mortality
“nooooooooo fred! I thought we were frieeeeeends”

kyo: it does not. do you really think it’s that much of a problem? i think we should at least try to convince people to switch, plus this layout is impossible to get to work in IE6 (it works, that’s an exaggeration – but there’s no transparency)

me: there are two kinds of people in the world;  people who understand that IE is not the only browser out there and people who do not

kyo: it’s not like I’m doing this on every one of my layouts.

me: the people in the first set (aka your target audience on this issue) don’t know that there are any other kinds of browsers, and they haven’t upgraded their version. do the math, dude. do you think they’re a) going to even notice the footer text much less b) take your advice?

kyo: no i don’t, but if someone bitches to me about how there is no transparency, i will point to that warning

me: that’s just it, THEY HAVEN’T SEEN THE INTERNET OF MODERN DAY

kyo: i don’t think I will change anything

me: THEIR INTERNET IS STILL FROM OLDEN TIMES!

kyo: but I want to try anyway

me: it’s all sepia tone and people in pictures all wear funny hats and high waisted pants. listen, you watch porn on old versions of IE and just see how cranky you wind up. “that young lady showed her ankles!”

kyo: lol

me: “ankle peekers II”

Don’t explode, mind! It’s purple and jazzy now!

1. You want plug-ins that give you sophisticated management tools for things that need it
For instance, ad managers. You just can’t effectively manage advertisements running on your blog manually – it’s way too inefficient and annoying. A plug-in is GREAT for things like this, and these are the sorts of plug-ins you want.

2. You want plug-ins for functions you’re going to use a lot
And, you want to be able to remove or disable them if you won’t be using them frequently. Avoid bulky plug-ins and themes that give you a lot of junk and bloat when you only want one or two of the features.

3. Look for well-tested, supported and updated plug-ins
Not fly by night hacks from people who will never update them again. Remember, WordPress gets updated fairly regularly. You want solid plug-ins that will grow with your site, not hold it back.

4. Avoid plug-ins for functionality that can be easily added into the template itself
e.g. automated picture management by category type. If it’s more easily and simply done through PHP, get over your fear of code. A quick google search will help you find what you’re looking for pretty fast, and some great tutorials to guide you through. When in doubt, WordPress has a huge support community and most bloggers who offer PHP solutions are happy to help you – just TRY to figure it out yourself first.

5. Avoid plug-ins that bloat your install
Adding lots of junk you don’t need and won’t use is a waste. Find individual plug-ins that do what you need.

6. Avoid Russian Nesting Dolls
If a template you want requires x, y and z plug-ins, or worse, an additional content management system for WordPress, you’ve just opened up a big can of worms, and are in for a world of pain.

Caution: May cause disorientation. Do not view while operating heavy machinery.

Yes, nothing bad could come from that. It’s a flawless plan.

In other news, if I see one more config file, I think I might just curl up in a ball and die. Conversely, I started editing some flash files for a client and after a minor freak out, (“Oh my god, I can’t do this. Why did I agree to this? What are we going to tell the client? I’m a complete failure as a human being. Why did I even think I could do freelance work? I hate flash!”), I made all the changes, fixed some issues in the Action Script, and the only thing holding me back from complete success and awesomeness is a missing font.

Any former PR coworkers reading this will laugh. Laugh it up, jerks. At least I only have to deal with missing fonts when I do freelance, so there. Nyah.

Vacation, where are you?

The base tag is the savior of many a designer’s sanity. Go, friends. Discover it again. For it is good.

I’ll start posting again soon. Promise!