Microsoft to Double Down on HTML5 With Internet Explorer 9? Really?

I was pretty surprised to read this week an article on Webmonkey that was saying that Microsoft would certainly double down in IE9 on HTML5 and CSS3. I suggest you read it yourself, but basically it was saying that Microsoft would go on the offensive at the upcoming MIX2010 presenting IE9.

Silverlight…

I do not see Microsoft go on the offensive, I am pretty sure in fact that it will not implement any ‘Multimedia’ feature like Audio, Video and Canvas any time soon, and certainly not before it is kind of obligated because Youtube, for example, switched to html5. Why? Silverlight… This technology is a competitor to all these technologies. If you are not really into extranet and intranet development, you might not even know what Silverlight is, well…

The mobile webkit fixed position problem

If there is one thing you will be missing while developing your mobile web application for Webkit, it is the CSS fixed position. You cannot effectively fix an element on the iPhone, and mobile device are no powerhouse to emulate it with javascript. The problem is simple, yet there is no perfect solution to it.

On a mobile device you scroll a window, not the site

When you scroll on a mobile device, you are not really scrolling the site, in fact if you zoom out completely you will see the entire page, you are only scrolling your “window” around the site. When you understand this, your fixed footer dream really shatter, unless you are willing to use complex methods..

iScroll

And there start your quest, on your…

The next generation of web developers and designers

I recently did a round table with other graduates from my college to first years students in the Multimedia Integration program. It was fascinating to see the actual next generation that would work on the web, and what was their inspiration as new students in a 3 year program were they would learn all about design, front-end development (HTML, CSS, Javascript and a bit of PHP), flash, video and 3d.

First thing I saw was that I was becoming old, with 5 years working as a front-end developer, I already lost some hairs and could have been a teacher. The students looked a bit like kids that liked to play video games a lot, which in fact when I think about it, was not very different…

Best front-end workflow within a production team

Optimizing front-end teams’ workflow is hard, there is always something that comes in the way, but it is important to at least try to optimize the front-end work. It could save your team considerable time over a project. Front-enders could work more efficiently together and within the production team.

Let’s take a look at front-enders’ typical relationship within a production team: (take it lightly)

First, you got designers that, generally, do not really like front-end developers because they do not render exactly there graphic design, and you got front-enders that “hate” designers because they are doing complicated design, costing too much money and time to render to HTML.

Back-end developers also have a general tendency to be a bit careless with HTML, which, not visible at first…

5 most important things I learned in 5 years of front-end development

I have been doing websites professionally for roughly 5 years now. I think I learned quite a few important things down the road. This article is more intended for beginners but I would love to hear what others front-enders think.       

Indent and wrap your CSS

Update: Reading the comments, I will not recommend to indent your CSS anymore, but please make easy and readable CSS.

I started indenting CSS 3 years ago and for me this is now a life breaker. I can never go back to the old and boring CSS style on one line. Indenting makes your CSS less confusing, when you look at indented CSS you understand visually your html structure. Yes, Firebug will tell you the line where there is a bug. Indenting will tell…

How to: Get CSS3 box-shadow and border-radius accepted as a viable option at your workplace

This is a small pledge for implementing CSS3 on non-critical design elements, I thought it might help other front-end developer to convince their boss, fell free to use it! What you need to understand, from my point of view, is that CSS3 can help save considerable time to your web development team, this article talks about these new tags and how it can save times and frustration.

CSS3 in modal boxes

Box-shadow and Border-radius are new CSS3 tags implemented in every major web browsers beside Internet explorer, it enables developers to create simple shadows and rounded corner around div elements.This type of shadow is often found around lightbox or modal boxes.
Considering modal boxes and such graphic elements are not generally presented to the client, I suggest…

Microsoft is on fire this week, a non-biased browsers chart

I would like to start with a quote from Microsoft on web standards browsers comparison:
It’s a tie. Internet Explorer 8 passes more of the World Wide Web Consortium’s CSS 2.1 test cases than any other browser

Now that’s just a start, Microsoft has put online a nice chart comparison proving that Microsoft has a better browser than anyone else. IE8 is a step up, but they are really going a very, very, very long stretch with this.

See it by yourself right there.

Does making an IE6 stylesheet makes you lazy?

I always wondered what was more time efficient between using an IE6 stylesheet for every bug I see, or try to track down the problem in my website. Most common bugs can be solved without using css tricks. I can pretty much say that half my ie6 css bugs are in fact small errors in my coding but that got fixed by newer browsers automatically.

I rarely use an IE6 stylesheet mainly because I learned most IE6 problems and do workarounds before testing on it. I think it makes my templates more solid that way. When I know this template works on IE6, IE7 and Firefox without the use of IE stylesheets, I know it will probably work everywhere.

I know the IE png fix needs to…

100% CSS compatibility or degrade correctly?

This article was first featured on cssglobe

I was talking with a front-end developer friend recently and was arguing that I would try to only use CSS3 rounded corners and shadows in the near future. No more pixel perfect for IE if it degrades correctly. My friend was not far from being outraged, for him, the user experience is King, and all users should have access to the same experience.

New CSS properties have enabled us with so many possibilities. Shadows and rounded corners are now possible in CSS3 but we have a problem, IE users do not see them. Should we use them anyway or should we implement longer CSS tricks to get those beautiful effects for IE users.

From an ethical point I agree with my…

XHTML Strict validation is a tool, not a way of life

At some point as a front-end developer I think we all have to draw a line for HTML validation. Strict validation is not a holy grail you need or can crusade for. It improves your code but has also it’s downside. For example target:_blank is no longer available, you need a javascript snippet to get around it. And when you get there, what’s the point? Your template no longer really validate. The target attribute doesn’t validate because you can’t choose for the user to open a link in another window, but you decided for him anyway!

That’s why I only validate my template with a strict validation and not the entire website. This way I am sure my template is rock solid before it goes in the…