Archive for November, 2009
Fix It Friday: Internet Explorer
Friday, November 27th, 2009
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana
Pete LePage used this quotation to introduce his session HTML 5 Features in Internet Explorer 8 at Web 2.0 Expo in NYC last week. He explained that this quotation was the guiding wisdom for the Internet Explorer team. I was surprised and delighted to hear someone from Microsoft admit Internet Explorer’s past shortcomings were motivating the creation of a better product.
But then he continued: When Microsoft released Internet Explorer 7, some web developers were upset that their websites no longer worked as they did in Internet Explorer 6. This outrage has haunted Microsoft so much that backwards compatibility is the biggest past mistake Microsoft wants to avoid repeating.
I was shocked.
Websites that behaved as the web developer expected in Internet Explorer 6 “broke” in Internet Explorer 7 because Microsoft corrected its implementation of web standards. The websites were always broken. Internet Explorer 7 just revealed them as such. However, had Internet Explorer 6 better implemented web standards, web developers would not have improperly coded websites.
The solution to this chicken and egg problem is for both web developers and browser vendors to adhere to web standards as best as they can at all times. Everyone must strive for more perfect code. Backwards compatibility cannot be guaranteed if there is a dependency upon a bug. Microsoft must stop using compatibility as an excuse for slow correction and continued support of proprietary implementations of web standards.
What Needs Fixing
1. Release more frequently.
Mr LePage pointed out that the HTML 5 specification is over 900 pages when printed and that no browser vendor would implement it perfectly all at once. He is correct. This is why Apple, Opera, and Mozilla release updates frequently. Microsoft aspires to have a 24 month release cycle for Internet Explorer, justified with the assertion that business customers don’t want more frequent releases.
Two years to improve web standards support between releases is a long time. Given how far Internet Explorer has to go to support current standards, and even more so on emerging standards, this pace is not fast enough. The web’s dynamic nature has created incredible value. Businesses have benefitted greatly from continual improvements in web technologies. Microsoft is slowing the innovation that occur on the most important platform ever created.
2. Create official standalone versions of Internet Explorer.
Enterprises that already have invested significant resources into web applications dependent upon Internet Explorer’s broken behavior deserve some form of compatibility. This compatibility should not come in the form of continued support for broken behaviors in future releases of Internet Explorer, but from frozen stand alone versions of Internet Explorer.
Compatibility with a flawed past is an act of condemned repetition. Fix the bugs and let those who need the bugs use an old version.
3. Open source Internet Explorer.
I’ve already said that I believe Internet Explorer is the most important application in the world. Web developers, enterprises, and end users would benefit from an improved Internet Explorer. Safari and Firefox have proven that talented programmers are willing to contribute to a worthwhile project. I’m certain developers would enthusiastically join Microsoft in improving the most widely used web browser in the world.
Introducing the Sony Ericsson WebSDK
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009Here is my encore presentation introducing PhoneGap and the Sony Ericsson WebSDK from the Web 2.0 Expo. Also, be sure to check out my sample application.
Source: YouTube, transcript
LA Celebrates Blue Beanie Day
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
I’m organizing the Los Angeles meet up of the third annual Blue Beanie Day on Monday, November 30th, 2009. The blue beanie is homage to Jeffrey Zeldman, who led the web standards revolution six years ago with his book Designing with Web Standards.
Join fellow Los Angeles Standardistas (people who support web standards) at The Cat & Fiddle from 8-11 PM. Happy Hour with $3.50 wine and cocktails is 10-11 PM! There is street parking around the area and a $6 valet. The bar also has a great food menu if you’d like to have dinner.
Don’t forget to wear a blue beanie to show your support for accessible, semantic web content.
Microsoft Must Sing
Thursday, November 19th, 2009Microsoft should buy Opera and rebrand it IE 10. For the sake of the open web, Microsoft’s pace of innovation isn’t cutting it.
Microsoft previewed Internet Explorer 9 at its Professional Developer Conference in Los Angeles yesterday. The new features for IE 9 read more like confessions of past wrong doings. Better JavaScript performance and uncommitted partial support for HTML 5 just aren’t good enough. Web developers can’t effectively utilize any standard Internet Explorer doesn’t support because Internet Explorer’s market share negates Firefox’s and Safari’s swift innovation.
A Business Proposition
At Web 2.0 Expo in NYC this week, I tried to convince a Microsoft IE Product Marketer to get his company to acquire Opera. He laughed. The Opera guys loved the idea.
The Opera web browser is a feature rich product by an truly innovative company. While the company started developing its browser long before Safari and Firefox, it hasn’t been widely adopted.1 This makes it perfect for acquisition. The portable design of the Opera rendering engine would give Microsoft a speedy desktop and mobile browser with better standards compliance than is planned for Internet Explorer 9.
Microsoft would accomplish more on day one of its acquisition than in the last five years of renewed Internet Explorer development.2 It would then be free to concentrate on building a product that leverages Windows and continues the implementation of emerging web standards. The hybrid rendering engine model of Internet Explorer 8 could still be available to render improperly coded websites when needed for compatibility. Everyone else would benefit from Internet Explorer behaving similarly to Firefox and Safari.
Tim O’Reilly predicted that Microsoft will become the champion of the open web. That can’t happen until Microsoft fixes the application most people use to get online. I don’t like or use Internet Explorer, but Internet Explorer is the most important application in the world. We all need it to succeed to build a better web.
2: Gates Highlights Progress on Security, Outlines Next Steps for Continued Innovation
Edit: The Dilbert strip that came out three weeks later was perfect.
Amazon PayPhrase Suggestions
Sunday, November 1st, 2009Amazon recently launched PayPhrase for fast online purchasing. The PayPhrase suggestions were quite hilarious. While it didn’t think my balls were splendid, here are some of the suggestions assembled into larger thoughts.
Could
have led to
,
,
and
?
and
brought
into
.
and
created
for
.
hope to end with
.
comes from
and
.
will feature
,
but not
.
