internet explorer changes

[Ophelia]

somebody pointed me to this article about internet explorer

http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol7/browser_no1.htm

and how they are going to change the browsers ability to deal with embedded content like Flash, music,etc.

Is this as serious as it sounds? I don't use music or flash really, but still, it seems pretty lame :/

[Viper007Bond]

Microsoft... updating IE? Never thought I'd see the day. Still will probably have all of the infamous flaws though - now we just get more! Oh goodie! *rolls eyes*

[KBorellis]

Here is some more info on the changes and ways to deal with them.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/ieupdate/
http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/activecontent/

http://www.mustardlab.com/developer/flash/standards/

Kevin B

[fac3less]

Wow don't you love companies that sue microsoft for the dUMBEST STUFF.

I'd like to get my hands on them and choke them all to death. Death to Eolas!

Anyways.. thats retarded. If I were microsoft I'd go out on a limb here and lock every company out of everything/do it on their own.

Probably some dumb judge involved here too "oh wow, Eolas must be right its their name isn't it!"

Time to start a company called TCP.... :b I'll sue Eolas!

[Tammy]

Microsoft also has to make its browser completely separate from the next version of Windows, per court order recently. Seems they've been supposed to do that for years, but somehow it just never got done.... Oops! Imagine that.

[metawu]

Wow, in a way it's like they're now forcing ppl on how to design websites. Which could be good, less garbage.

[vanselus]

Sounds like same ol, same ol. They're always trying to make things "easier" my making us click ok 50,000 times.

Although that's pretty lame that they have to un-integrate IE from windows. But who knows... maybe they'll fix things while they're in there :D

[SnakEyez]

Well thankfully this doesn't effect me for 2 reasons. First is that I have a Mac and Mac browsers are not affected, including the crappy IE. Second, even on Windows I don't use IE and Mozilla isn't affected by this so it doesn't mean any changes as far as I can see. If people have to see those dialogs to open webpages there is a good chance more people will probably end up moving away from IE.

[vanselus]

I don't know how anyone uses IE for mac. It's so excruciatingly slow compared to Safari. I suppose if you're doing something Safari doesn't support, then fine... but it's just painful on my machine to use IE.

[SnakEyez]

Originally posted by vanselus
I don't know how anyone uses IE for mac. It's so excruciatingly slow compared to Safari. I suppose if you're doing something Safari doesn't support, then fine... but it's just painful on my machine to use IE.

I agree completely. The only choice for me is Safari and Firebird. Only time I have to use IE is to log into where my school keeps my grades because it requires IE. Other than that one page I can't stand it.

[johnb]

While I disagree with the principle here, I can't say I'd cry if there was less flash on the web.

[SnakEyez]

It's not just Flash though. It's javascript and ActiveX too. That means Windows update and Office update are done since MS requires you use IE and IE will have a pop-up on every page. This also includes using IE while playing simple javascript games on Yahoo.

[johnb]

It's not just Flash though.

I get it. Like I said, I don't agree overall, I'm just not a fan of flash.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally posted by johnb
I get it. Like I said, I don't agree overall, I'm just not a fan of flash.
When done properly, Flash is awesome:

http://www.2advanced.com/

[vanselus]

I have only two words for that site:

Wow.

[Viper007Bond]

I got a few dozen sites like that. I'll try and remember them and post them.

A friend of mine does that kind of stuff for a living and is actually making something of that quality for a clan's website that I'm in right now...

For now, check out this (http://www.rockstargames.com/upload/swf/winners/multimedia/drewcope.swf) - notice how the audio and picture is syncronized. REALLY hard I hear.

[Viper007Bond]

http://forums.hostrocket.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11480

[vanselus]

Damn, whoever did a nice job on that one - really creative too. I did notice that the picture and sound were synced - why would that be so hard? I suppose you'd just have to set the time ruler thing to very small subdivisions to be able to hit the beat, but other than that?

Not that I know much about flash though...

[Viper007Bond]

Yeah, unlike PHP and that kinda of stuff, Flash is timeline based. So you gotta set a time for stuff ot occur - which means they had to set each of those events to match the sound. Lot of work. I'll post some more links in that other thread.

[johnb]

Don't get me wrong, those sites do some very cool things, but I've never seen flash improve usability. After the initial wow factor wears off all you're left with are increased load times.

[vanselus]

The only time i've seen flash improve usability is when non-computer users see an interface through flash that they're more familiar with, like their stereo and whatnot. Although, that could be done without flash too...

The other consideration is that usability is NOT the goal of every website. Quite often it's pure promotion/entertainment, such as muscians and even some corporate sites. More to give the user a "feel" about the company than actually provide a service.

[johnb]

I can certainly understand why some people use it, I just think it's overused in general.

[vanselus]

Originally posted by johnb
I can certainly understand why some people use it, I just think it's overused in general.

amen! especially those horrible splash pages.