We all know that Microsoft like to create their own standards and then ignore even the most established practices (Silverlight, anyone?), but when it comes to web standards, what are some of these browsers trying to prove? With the recent release of the Acid 3 test, an online set of tests that put a browser through it’s paces, you can start to quantify the usefulness of each browser in today’s Internet hungry world. With demand for Web 2.0 apps only going to increase, it’s vital for the modern browser to be able to keep up with the latest technology.

Steven Noonan has compiled a list of browsers and their scores on his blog, and it doesn’t take long to realise just how wide the playing field is. It doesn’t surprise me at all that Safari is at the top in both the beta and released version - it’s the browser I use every day and it really is up there. Mind you, I’m in the minority with Safari being mainly used by my Mac counterparts out there. Firefox is the weapon of choice for the largest percentage of Internet users, and in my case, a good alternative. When it comes to standards, if your site works in Safari and Firefox, it’s got a good chance of appeasing the other browsers too. Opera is also giving the Acid 3 test a run for it’s money, but I’ve never been a fan of the somewhat cluttered interface it offers. I guess that’s more personal preference than anything. The real challenge is when you take aim at Internet Explorer. As you can see from the results, the below 15% results that it achieves, even in the very latest releases, mean you have a rocky road ahead. It’s an endless source of frustration, particularly when you are looking at CSS and you end up with elements that position themselves in places that you couldn’t hope to position them in even if you wanted to.

When you look at the stats above (of the browsers that are used to access this site), you can see that Internet Explorer, although it’s share is slowly declining, is still using a good 35% of the market. It’s a pity really, I’d love to just be able to ignore it and spend my time doing better things. Maybe I’m just being pedantic, maybe I’m demanding too much from my poor browsers, but maybe, just maybe, the Internet Explorer fan clubs out there are missing out on the best parts of the web that are on offer because they just don’t see them in all their glory. I’ll leave that for you to decide…

The problem is, when the Australian State Governments start to fiddle with the dates that daylight savings operate through, modern devices and technology that rely on the information can’t keep up. With the lead time of just a few months, many people found themselves with devices that didn’t know the changeover date has been pushed back a week. Today I found myself taking on the role of the “timekeeper” while I hunted out rogue systems that were missing the relevant patches that correct the time zone information. It seemed that with every problem we discovered, another one crept up as a result.

It begs the question, is it really worth moving it forward one week? Australia now has four separate time zones when you take into consideration all the differing daylight savings periods. Lucky my Mac knows what’s going on - it got the update from Apple months ago!

The result is what you see here!

• A new host, thanks to LemonJar - bye bye Dreamhost (although they were good to me for two years). The site is much, much faster so hopefully you’ll notice the difference.
• A new theme (it’s based off Aperio prototype - I stress it is a prototype and will need a little tweaking)
• A new Wordpress - It’s now running version 2.5 which has a host of new features that makes everything worthwhile.

As usual, feel free to leave comments. There may be the odd broken image around the place. I’m still fixing some things up. :)

Oh and while I’m here, I’ve been sharing some of the more useful items in my own feed. You can take a look by subscribing to this link.

Liam was testing it at work today and I was very impressed with how easy it was to set up. You are literally up and running in no time. The only downside I can see is that it doesn’t support Apache virtual hosts - which is a feature I use all the time to manage multiple web projects on the one server. This functionality is only available in the Pro version (which you have to pay for). Although I’m sure the more determined out there could manually edit the Apache configuration to set it up on the free version.

If you’re interested, you can go check it out at http://www.mamp.info/.

So why update in the first place? Well the fact is that if you don’t, you end up getting so much spam and open yourself to security risks that, well, just aren’t worth the risk. :) Plus you get a handful of new features with each version and when you take so long to update, that’s a lot of versions. So sit back, relax, and enjoy Wordpress 2.3.3.

Oh and I managed to fix the AJAX (real-time) searching too so I turned it back on. Go take it for a spin!

As most would know, today Kevin Rudd apologised to the Aboriginal people of Australia, on behalf of the nation and the government, for the wrong actions of those in the past. It’s something that’s long overdue, and as was debated in parliament yesterday, it’s “unfinished business”. What I am shocked about, however, is the attitude that some people have had to this milestone in Australia’s history. Rather than a time for everyone to unite for a common cause, it seems to be a point of contention for some that have formed blatantly racist and ill-informed propositions about the issue.

I think it’s disgusting that in this day and age people want to stick to the myth that “you lost this country when you didn’t defend it.” If you really believed that, perhaps it’s time to put the shoe on the other foot. From those I’ve spoken to today, this sticking point demonstrates just how ill-informed these “radicals” are - the central issue surrounding reconciliation is that of the “stolen” generations. For 60 years, until 1970, the Australian government took mixed-race Aboriginal children from their families and put them in dormitories or industrial schools, claiming it was protecting them. This led to a whole range of social and political issues for the Aboriginal people as families were torn apart and left in harsh, poor conditions. To those who believe that an apology is not warranted, I ask you this: Would you be happy if the government came along and forcibly removed your child purely based on your race, or hair colour, or gender? One would assume not.

I think that saying sorry is a step in the right direction. It’s a move that takes great courage, both politically and personally, and has paved the way for a long road of healing. One can only hope that today’s apology can lead to further developments towards reconciliation in the future. While you might view it as too little too late, I think you’d be hard pressed to provide a better alternative.

I could get into a political debate very easily here so I’ll simply leave it by saying thank you to Mr Rudd for putting into words what many have felt for years. It’s a pity the same can’t be said for Dr Nelson who despite agreeing, insisted on bringing the Liberal agenda into the equation.

What are your thoughts?

I forgot to make an entry about my latest header pic when I uploaded it a few days ago so I thought I had better include one. The photo is unedited and almost got thrown out for being blurry (I took it while the car was speeding down Mt Hotham) but then I thought it was perfect for the blog.

This trip was one of the hottest with the temperature soaring into the mid 40s. It was a good opportunity to take lots of photos with the new camera though. I still have a lot of learning to go with that thing, but it’s good to be able to relate some of the features with practical, real-life examples.

Being up in the hills only makes me long for the winter ski season to begin!

In about an hour (when Ed is forced out of bed), we’ll start to open all the presents around the tree. There seem to be an awful lot this year - maybe everyone is feeling extra generous. I hope everyone likes what I got them. :)

I also think that this is one of the coldest Christmases we’ve had in a while (it’s a mild 16 degrees at the moment). With the weather as it has been these last couple of weeks I’m not surprised either. It sure beats the 30 degree days we’ve had in the past.

In any case, no matter how you choose to celebrate the day, I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday. I’ll be back later in the week to write about my presents (not to mention the present I bought myself - yes, I finally got that TV!).

Cheers!

Too few people realise that the ICT industry has revenues of nearly $70 billion. Our employment is larger than banking and finance, larger than television, media and communications, larger than mining, and larger than wool, wheat and sugar combined. We are a significant contributor to the social and economic wellbeing of our country.

Why is it then that so few understand how important ICT is?