Rambling rant about the dark ages

I'm no star programmer. But I am--I think--a journeyman jack of all
trades,
with a wide range of experience.

I got my CS degree in 1995 (at age 45). I did two years of motif
interface
to Oracle database on AIX machines. One year systems administration,
hooking IBM mainframes up to credit scoring servers on banks of
linux boxes. 3 years 3D rendering of confocal microscope images using
OpenGL
and OpenInventor, on SGI boxes. Five or six years java-servlet
interface
to SleepyCat and Exist XML database. 3-4 months of wrestling with
GWT webapp interfaces using Netbeans (which I liked a lot).
And now, during semi-retirement, freelance websites (this part
is new for me).

And making these dynamic css websites ain't no picnic.
What looks good in Firefox on a 64bit Feisty Ubuntu box, with
a big flat screen montitor at high resolution looks like shit in
Firefox
on a low resolution screen. Worse on Internet Explorer 7. Worse yet
on Internet Deplorer 6. You get it eventually--I have, every time
now.
But what seems like it should take 3-6 hours ends up taking all week
long. Someday we'll look back at this mess and laugh. We're still
struggling through the dark ages.

salmobytes wrote:

And making these dynamic css websites ain't no picnic.
What looks good in Firefox on a 64bit Feisty Ubuntu box, with
a big flat screen montitor at high resolution looks like shit in
Firefox on a low resolution screen.

Might I suggest your design approach may be at fault. Who knows without
a URL but normally if your design looks good only at one viewport size
that the problem is a pixel-perfect-design method.

Worse on Internet Explorer 7. Worse yet
on Internet Deplorer 6. You get it eventually--I have, every time
now.

Again hard to say without an URL, but even good designs fail because of
MS "enthusiasm" to embrace web standards. I think if you MS is the
synonym for "code fork"

But what seems like it should take 3-6 hours ends up taking all week
long. Someday we'll look back at this mess and laugh. We're still
struggling through the dark ages.

It may help to first just do your page with semantic html markup. No
style. Mark sure it the page is proper with no style. Then add on what
you need to get the style you like. Helps cut down on DIViditus and
CLASSitus.



--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

On 2007/12/13 16:37 (GMT-0800) salmobytes apparently typed:

What looks good in Firefox on a 64bit Feisty Ubuntu box, with a big flat
screen montitor at high resolution looks like shit in Firefox on a low
resolution screen.

That's the inherent nature of low resolution - low quality. It has always
been thus, but I suppose it's harder to accept once you've been spoiled by
familiarity with quality.

Worse on Internet Explorer 7. Worse yet on Internet Deplorer 6.

It is harder to make things on these "the same" as on browsers with better
standards compliance, but the the pain can be substantially reduced when you
divorce yourself from thinking "the same" is something good. How boring would
be the world if everything was "the same". On the web, a place where
adaptability is inherent and sameness is not, equivalent behavior and similar
appearance get the job done with greater ease to the creator.
--
" Our Constitution was made only for a moral
and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to
the government of any other." John Adams

Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409

Felix Miata *** http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/