IE8 Launched for Developers

Yeah, yeah, I’m a dork for wanting to talk about stuff like this, sorry Rhiz and Ganns, I’m using alien language again.. :( hehe

While on a lunch out with my (geeky) co-workers, which is a first time in like… Ever since I got here because we never really see each as early as 12 noon (yeah that’s early, one of my co-workers actually greeted me with a “good morning” one time at 1 in the afternoon, apparently Paranaque is of a different timezone).

IE8 beta for developers
I tried downloading and opening the logo in Photoshop and then a warning popped up saying that it cannot parse the file, I mean do something right! I have that problem with that as well sometimes heheh and whenever that happens it means that I tried to save a .jpg using a .gif extension or .png using .jpg, you get the idea. It’s usually because I tried overwriting the file and I forgot that it’s set to jpg lol (yeah, yeah, I know, stupet)

Anyway, I got the tidbit that IE8 Beta 1 is now up for grabs for developers (and for anyone who wishes to use the latest version of IE – nut jobs) and for the first time in history, I was able to contribute to our conversation! About version targeting and IE8 being able to pass the Acid Test 2 (as far as I know, one of the first browsers to do that) — I usually just sit there trying my hardest to not look clueless whenever they talk about hash, mailerqueue, ruby on rails, hacking the framework, javascripts, cakePHP, models, controllers, mysql (I mean we’re having lunch and they’re talking about how to print all of the generic emails so we could go and see what’s wrong them!), so yeah, I hope you can feel my pain lol.

OK, so moving on, I looked at the documentation for IE8, like the new stuff that they added and was glad that their goal was to eventually make IE8 CSS3 compliant. AND their default is the standards mode of IE8 but you can still opt to target the IE7 rendering engine by using the meta tag:

<meta HTTP-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=7">

It also seems that IE8 is supports microformats and can even let the users subscribe to a particular part of your content. I don’t know if their developer tools will be better this time, I like firebug because it lets me change the styles within it so I could see the changes immediately and I’ll know which line to edit.

Anyone able to give IE8 a spin? Any thoughts?

Mar 6th, 2008

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Version Targeting and IE8

So IE8 is in the works now, I’ve heard of this little tidbit when I read Eric Meyer’s article in ALA which talked about his views about WaSP’s proposal to the IE developer team to keep IE8 from “breaking the web” just like what IE7 did to our sites when it was launched — which is dubbed as version targeting. While reading it, I thought that has to be the stupidest thing, why does IE have to mess our lives even more? They’re probably sadists who just love to see developers and designers pour countless of hours just to make sure that their sites look the way it’s supposed to (actually I just thought of the last line this very minute) — with that I closed the window and was smug enough to think that I’m the wiser. Until today.

The problem was that I thought what they’re proposing is wrong even before I read Aaron Gustafson’s Beyond DOCTYPE article which explains just what version targeting is, along with why and how the DOCTYPE switch is broken — the main reason why the IE team is now looking for other solutions to make sure that they not break the web with IE8. Hey, how about phasing out IE? lol Of course, I kid, life’s not fun without it. Seriously.

So anyway, they’re proposing that version targeting be the next kid on the block, let’s skip the jargons, it made my brains spew blood and there’s no way I’ll be able to use the same words and look like I really know it.

Advantages

Simply put, by using the following code

<meta HTTP-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=8;FF=3" />

within your <head> tag, it will be able to freeze the look of the site based on the rendering engine version of the browsers you specified. In this case, it’s FF 3 and IE8.

So what does this mean? If your site looks grand already in IE8, it will still retain its look even if IE9 is released to the public. Even if new features or CSS support are introduced in IE9, it will not show up in your site because your site is set to IE8. So say goodbye to downloading nightly versions of the browsers to be sure that your site is compatible with the newer version. It also means that you will support the new version of the browser when you want it or when you’re ready (if for example the number of your visitors using IE8 has dwindled down to just 5% or so).

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Feb 21st, 2008

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Brand New Theme

Due to my lack of social life, this is by far the fastest theme I have ever finished for myself (probably 3 days), well it’s obviously easy to code except for the homepage (go on, click on the older posts, that’s my pride and joy) of course but I’m very proud of this because I almost tore my hair out of my head just trying to figure this thing out. But oh well, I love these complexities, I would’ve tested this thoroughly but I’m expecting something more complicated this coming week to come my way and I’m afraid that by the time I’m finished with that I would have been bored with this already and make another one. Just like what happened to these 2.

Drafts for Last Leaf

The one on the left is supposed to be flexible, I already coded it into a theme and also patterned the portfolio to look like like it (after several frustrating nights) but after quite some time I find it too … blah and the one on the right wasn’t even converted to HTML.

I don’t know if I should call this a design though, but this is the theme I created for myself that I’m happiest with so far, you can say that I really, really love whitespace and grids.

So, what do you think? If you find any error that I might have missed, don’t hesitate to let me know :)

Feb 6th, 2008

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Manga Galore

I’m into manga these days (does anyone know where I can download DC comics though? I kinda want to read more about Batman and Spiderman and want that copy of the Death of Superman), I’ve read some the past few months like His and Her Circumstances, Hana Kimi, Power! and the likes (yeah, yeah, mostly shoujos), I loved them specially since they’re already finished.

You may see it as weird but I do love spoilers. I want to know what will happen to the main characters, that way I will be excited to finish the whole thing and I’ll be able to piece everything together because I’m kinda slow and I tend to forget stuff easily. I get uneasy when I don’t know what happens next to the point that I get a little obsessed over it. And ta-da, stuff that I’m obsessing over right now.

Vampire Knight

Vampire Knight main characters - Zero, Yuuki and Kaname
Vampire Knight main characters -
Zero, Yuuki and Kaname

This is the latest manga that I’ve finished, it’s nice, dark and dramatic. I can’t wait for it to finish! I hope it does soon because the suspense is killing me. :/ I heard that an anime with the same title will be going out this year, spring I think? I don’t know what month it is because here, the seasons are just hot and hotter.

This is one of the various stories about vampires, see the main characters are studying at a unique school called Cross Academy which have a day and night students. What makes it one of a kind is that the night students are actually composed of vampires. And that’s how our story about Zero — a vampire hunter who was turned into a vampire, Yuuki — a normal student who apparently is a pure-blood vampire princess, and Kaname — a pure-blood vampire prince who is Yuuki’s brother (it was later revealed).

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Feb 5th, 2008

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On Being a Health Buff

My father can be such a nag sometimes. And willful. Once he’d set his mind on something, there’s no stopping him so when he starts talking about something, all we had to do is wait for a couple of months (or years most of the time) and we can already see what he’s talking about.

So imagine my surprise when he actually bought a treadmill one week after seeing one at the mall! So now, we have to exercise every morning and every night. I tried it the first time for 10 minutes and it already felt like I have been walking for an hour or so ’cause I’m just so soaked in sweat. It makes me wonder how come I’m not this soaked whenever I walk from the office to EDSA considering I have the mac with me then I remembered that I walk in the malls.

Papa have always been concerned about or health, like when we were kids we had to sleep really, really early (while in high school there were times when I’m already in bed at 8 or 9 in the evening and up at 4 in the morning) because our brains will not work properly if we sleep late, he tried to convert us to being vegetarians once but then again, he can force us to sleep early but we will never give up meat nor ice cream or cake or softdrinks!

Anyway, my body’s aching right now and I’m afraid that my legs will be even bigger now, I just wish it could make my waist slimmer sigh, I’m too lazy for this. I’m planning to stick with this routine for a while if I could see some result. That is if I could stop myself from binging.

Feb 4th, 2008

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