I don’t use Microsoft products. No. Really. The last time I used Windows to any degree was around mid-to-late 2000, and after that, not at all. Since then, Linux has met all my needs, and with alot less hassle.
As a result, I have no idea what’s going on with Microsoft’s development cycle, and I really don’t care to. The last time I even booted into Windows was when I got my laptop a few months ago, and that was just to make sure everything was up and running before repartioning and erasing it.
Somehow Windows XP was even more heinous, resource-intensive and just plain awful from a UI standpoint than its ancestors. I couldn’t do anything without six unrelated dialog boxes popping up (“I know my wireless adapter’s connected! You’re trying to download “updates” right now!”), and it was just plain ugly, and from what I could tell, the user-interface is completely uncustomizable.
Oh, and then there’s the instability, the sluggishness, and all manner of virii, worms, trojans, spyware, and who knows what else. No thanks.
Anyhow, I don’t use it, so I don’t know it, and I certainly don’t take any pains to code for it. At this point, considering the cost, the draconian “licensing,” and the fact that it’s inherently defective as an operating system, there is absolutely no reason to use it or put any more money in a company that pushes such a product. Remember the Code Red virus? I do. Two of my friends own a company that was almost bankrupted by the downtime it caused them. So why are they still using it? Habit? I don’t know.
And I really don’t care. Linux, BSD, OSX…they do all the things Windows can and more, with far less overhead, at a lower (even negligible) price, and with far fewer intellectual constraints. At this point, if you insist on using Windows, you deserve it.
There. I’ve said it. And I’m not taking it back. So quit whining. You know I’m right. I’m always right.
So, what does that have to do with this page? Glad you asked. Someone emailed me that the new layout “looks like ass.” After sorting through the many grammatical and typographical sins against nature, I was able to decipher that the sender (who had a link to MySpace, no less) was using Internet Explorer. Hmmm…maybe that’s the problem.
I checked a Windows box, and sure enough, two-and-a-half years after I’d written about it, Internet Explorer still can’t render stylesheets correctly. WTF? I tried two different versions, one on a friend’s box running WinXP and the newest version, and it adds borders around the links at the top, and it scales all wrong. I have an old box downstairs with a Win98 partition (I keep it in the closet and rarely feed it. It runs kernel 2.2.15 and makes a great mail-server), and that was even worse.
Even when the page is viewed at full-screen at a good resolution, it insists on putting a scrollbar inside the content element, and there’s an image that pops up on top of the sidebar that doesn’t even exist in the stylesheet, or even on my server. That, and the whole text layout is hosed.
These standards are almost five years old, and Microsoft still can’t get them right? Screw it. This page renders exactly the way I want it to in the Firefox/Mozilla/Gecko/Camino family, and that’s what you should be using anyway. I’ve tried “fixing” things to play nice with Explorer in the past, and it’s a pain in the ass.
I know a few hacks that actually kill Explorer when it tries to load a page with them. Times like this, I’m tempted to write them in.
If you insist on using Windows, at least do yourself a favor. Ditch Explorer for Firefox. It’s standards-compliant, it’s faster and more stable than IE, and it won’t cost you a thing. While you’re at it, slag Outlook and get Thunderbird. My guess is, this isn’t the only site that “looks like ass” in Explorer.
Thank you, and good night.