Molly speaks up… #8

…non-standard code — blasphemy..?

holy cows and standards…

There are no holy cows around where I live, but the (not so holy) cows on the farm are very nice to me. Providing me with warm milk and some soft straw-bedding for my afternoon nap...

Oh well, this is not about cows—holy or otherwise. It's about web-design and web-standards and non-standards and all that stuff that web pages are made up of.

This may not matter to most people, but it sure matters to some –  including my partner; the not so fantastic web-carpenter. Together we are investigating this large area to see what we can make different User Agents (browsers and such) do for us.
It isn't much if you ask me, but we get around...

leaving the herd…

This User Agent can't do this, and that User Agent can't do that. Most User Agents are pretty limited, or limiting, no matter what, and some User Agents have so many shortcommings that they should be deprecated altogether.
Did I mention Internet Explorer?

Most of the old browsers that are still in use today, are lost when given web-standard code. That's just a fact, and not much to argue about — although some do. These old browsers must either be left out, or be given something...

So, we add some browser-specific code just to get around, thus leaving the herd of standard-promoting web-designers. Most of them don't mind too much, since they do so themselves at times– when needed. However, some standard wannabees acts as if we have thrown all web-standards overboard just because we have added some non-standard code to the mixture.

some cheating is allowed — but don't let it show…

If we hide our trickery from the validator, then some standard wannabees thinks it's perfectly ok. It's as if the validator were a holy cow in a temple somewhere, and we may justify whatever by making it invisible to this holy cow.
Holy me... What a joke!

If something works only with non-standard code, and we don't care to hide it, then it's blasphemy to some. Throwing dirt through the back door in Internet Explorer is ok, but if it shows...

Well, why should we care if it shows? We all accept that we produce garbage just by living. Good to know some garbage-trucks comes around to pick it up, as long as none of that garbage is deposited anywhere near our place. No one likes visible pollution.

helping the needy…

Some browsers are based on garbage-collection. Let's give the users of such browsers a chance, in the name of accessibility if nothing else. These people are at the losing end no matter what – stuck with Internet Explorer or something, and most of them couldn't care less even if they knew anything about their garbage-collectors.

If someone needs a garbage-truck sized User Agent like Internet Explorer just to get around, then a ton or more of unpurified garbage to fuel their surfing-experience shouldn't matter much. They have the freedom to choose –  they just are not willing to use that freedom. It's stupid, but it's their choice to make.

Browse Happy: Switch to a safer browser today

Alternatives are to be found all over the place. What more can anyone ask for?


We cats have been around for a while, and know how to take advantage of all opportunities around us. Standards are good, and they keep getting better, but standards are not made for garbage-collecting User Agents.

don't patronize me…

As long as the producers of garbage-collecting User Agents – and their followers – keep on spreading garbage on the web, then there's no reason to patronize standard-compliant web-carpenters who knows how to serve some additional garbage when needed.

There are no holy cows around here (I've said that already, haven't I?). If someone have some holy cows, then they better take good care of them — somewhere else.

I – Molly 'the cat' – am the only one who is (ever so slightly) holy around here, and I'd like to keep it that way. Thus, I've wrapped up some pretty goofy garbage in a nice @import rule, just for the sake of standards...

Holy Molly… Scratch, scratch…
I'm preparing for the arrival of the next garbage-collector. That would be IE8, I think.
It's fun, you know.

sincerely  molly 'the cat'

Hageland 26.feb.2005
▶ last rev: 20.nov.2008

Molly speaks up…

dialog:
Molly:
…I'd like to use pure standards.
Opera: …that would be just fine with me, you know.

Section

  • introduction
  • Table of Content

About

  • this is PTL web-design
  • CSS sledgehammer
  • Lynx enhanced page
  • Print enhanced page
  • Projection enhanced
  • Small Screen enhanced page
  • validity of xhtml and CSS
  • html tidy
  • Opera and me
  • Firefox vs. IE
the usual
  • the author
  • Copyright
the unusual
  • Molly speaks up
  • more from Molly
the additional
  • Examples
  • Demo pages

Oops!

there's a cat loose…

…validate everything — and cover up that dead herring…


Dear visitor:

There's a cat and mouse game going on.
Microsoft launches another bug, and we just have to catch it.
 
…sharpening my claws now…
Molly


disclaimer:

… the author can not be made responsible for any harm done to and by this page and the rendering thereof, should the visitor be ignorant of all the hazards introduced by the use of any and all versions of Internet Explorer…
Molly



Molly's corner…
…2005 - 2008