Mark Edgington

Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) – the new version of Microsoft’s web browser – is likely to be released in the before the end of the year. This release promises to deliver greater standards support and better performance. However, with the release of any new product there is always a risk incompatibilities or bugs.

The risks posed with the release of IE8 are that the browser may not be compatible with sites already in service . These risks are minimized if you have  committed to standards based development as the IE8 development team is focusing heavily on standards support.

In addition, IE8 (and all subsequent versions) allow site maintainers to define how the browser should render pages. Where a site maintainer believes their site will render incorrectly in IE8 they can set a meta tag within the page that will force IE8 to render pages as IE7 would. This means that you can avoid rendering problems, either temporarily while we determine impact, or permanently where we believe it is not cost effective to fix.

A first beta version of IE 8 was released for developer review earlier this year and a second beta is expected in the next few months. The initial beta release is lacking significant amounts of functionality scheduled for inclusion in the final release and therefore not suited to site testing at this stage. However, based on feedback the following may potentially be an issue with the final release:

1.     Incomplete or buggy CSS 2.1 support

Action to take:

a.     Assess the severity on the site affected.

b.    Enable IE7 mode on site

c.     Determine effort to fix

d.    If viable apply fix and enable IE8 mode on site

2.     Some content may not be accessible when using assistive technologies (AT)

This is outside our mosts remit as it is a failure of the software. Additionally you need to posses the  AT equipment to test.

Action to take: none.

3.     Printing reverting to IE7 mode

This should not be an issue if sites  have already been tested with IE7.

Action to take: none.

The best action is to track developments as subsequent beta versions are released. When the 2nd beta release is available we will test with a sample of current sites. From this estimate the likely impact of the final browser release and take a view on whether IE7 mode should be enabled on current sites prior to release.

Upon final release test current sites:
·        Visual conformance comparing screen for screen with IE7

·        Rendering of flash content

·        Functional testing client-side functionality for failure and script errors

·        Functional testing forms for failure

This is best carried out on review servers were suitable, or by disabling IE7 mode on the live site during testing.

It is very likely that issues encountered in beta versions will be resolved on final release. I would therefore advise that you do not embark on full testing or make changes until the final release is available.

You should however plan to enable the meta tag to allow us to turn on/off IE7 mode at site level. You will need to estimate the effort involved for each platform. This feature will allow you to manage the impact of new IE versions ongoing.

Thanks go to  John Hunter who complied this for me.

When iPod shuffle is set to shuffle songs it will play all the audio files on iPod shuffle that are not audiobooks. Podcasts of type .m4b or AAC will not play on iPod shuffle when it is in shuffle mode, which is the intended behavior, although a podcast of type .mp3 or .wav may play while in shuffle mode.

 To play an audiobook or podcast that is on iPod shuffle, set the switch on iPod shuffle to play in any order

CushyCMS is a fast, simple and free content management system that aims to make life easier for web designers by simplifying content management. Using CushyCMS, web designers can give content editors (for example a client) access to part, full or many pages at a granular level (headings, images, sidebars, etc), enabling them to update or create standards-compliant content directly from a browser without messing with the sites coding.

It’s in beta at the moment, but works well.  I made a site editable in about 15 minutes www.JScudamore.com , it’s a tool with great potential for small sites run be a single individual.

Without a doubt the highlight of the day so far. The panel of the days presenters covered the whole spectrum of cloud computing from current position to future issues. I have five pages of notes from this so not one for my N810 or my thumbs will go dead. The key points of interest to me where the fact that the cloud is almost a renewal of some old technology ideas that did not quite make it, mixed in with standard tried and tested ideas and innovative pricing. If there was or will be a key issue it has to be Security (trust), i think it would only take one major security breach (loss or steal of data) and it could take down a company; many will have to base themselves firmly around trust so one to watch.

I posted about pipes about a year ago and it has since increased its modules from 20 to 50 and makes up 1/3 of all mash-up calls to Google. I really need to play with it some more, it really is very cool, bringing a lot of power without the need to code and enabling those that can to spend more time on the applications that consume the data.

My last five conferences had been in San Francisco, so the howling winds and buckets of rain which destroyed my umbrella did not put me in the best, or driest of moods. However, i had registered for DSL with Martin Fowler, Neal Ford and Rebecca Parsons, so i held hope. They did not disappoint, presenting a work in progress for a new book that covered Internal, External and Language Workbench definitions of DSL.

While DSL have been around for many years, this attempt at clarification, was clear and well thought out. The definition :

• computer program
• language like in its nature
• limited expressiveness
• domain focused.

The easiest entry point seemed to be Internal DSL (those created within your current language of choice, or by investigating and branching out into other complementary languages External DSL’s, i.e Groovy or JRuby to complement Java. A potentially more difficult External DSL’s route was to write your own DSL, this offering great power and control, but potential high-complexity as these are home spun definitions, lexers and parsers and this will be alien to many. Finally of great interest were Languages Workbenches, which in the case of Jetbrains MPS is a multitude of DSL’s that go together to form the MPS tool for creating DSL’s. This and other similar work has the potential to change the way we work, some are near to production quality, so we will see.

My take out was that the use of DSL’s needs to get more prominence, in a similar way to Agile development; which has taken years to gain main stream prominence. Through the use of DSL’s developers will gain skills and solve problems in a more elegant fashion, so it’s a definite win and with a Martin Fowler book on the subject it should get wider prominence.

(Written on my N810, so excuse grammar and spelling)

I have tried and tried, but, i just can’t come to grips with facebook. The only functionality i like to use is the quick updates from my blackberry, but apart from that nothing. I find the fact that my photos are held in limbo annoying, to the point at which i won’t upload and poke, hug etc are just a joke to me, i get nothing from them. I tried some apps but most seem to be based on pyramid scheme mentality. Roll on the next incarnation.

I had to empty a locked item in the trash and needed to hold the option key, nobody seemed to know it was the alt key on a mac, except one designer and wikipedia.

A new service from Qik provides you with the ability to stream video to the web from your mobile phone. It currently works on most Nokia phones and has been used to good effect by Robert Scoble at Davos and Mac World.  This obvious, but well implemented solution is a great extension to video just stored on your phone.  how long will it be before we see it in daily news programmes with roaming citizen reporters.  Well worth a try if you have a Nokia, but watch phone bill if you don’t have an unlimited data plan.

I like simple ideas and Chirp is one of them. We all have an ever growing list of social network sites and Chirp aims to bring these together in one place. The thing I like about the idea is it’s a screen saver. I think this is smarter than trying to be a web page or true desktop application, as people are more willing to try a screensaver. Also I think it may be a great time to get an update on your networks; just when you return to your machine.

At the moment it only links into Flickr and Facebook, but more are on the way. I’m not biggest fan of Facebook, but many are, so this screensaver may be popping up on a desktop near you.