Bloody Internet Explorer

[Tezcatlipoca]

Right, so this isn't a discussion so much as purely a thread in which I'm venting my bile at the ****e that is IE.

 

And why is level-headed, pragmatic Uncle Tez doing this? Because he has just spent the last two hours scripting and rescripting webcode purely so IE can manage to display a basic website properly, and still hasn't finished it, that's why.

 

"Maybe the problem is your web code, Uncle Tez", I hear you cry. Maybe indeed. Let's look.

 

No, my code is fast, efficient and - most importantly - 100% standards compliant. Both my suite of coding checks and W3C's own services tell me the site is utterly compliant with all webcoding international standards and that my HTML is at peak efficiency (as if there was any doubt ).

 

I look at my site in Firefox and it looks and behaves beautifully. I run it in Chrome, and the same. Safari has no problems with everything running as it should and Opera looks perfect too. I even throw the onboard browsers on three smartphones at it (Opera Lite, Safari iPhone and Mercury) and each shows the site exactly as I'd intended.

 

In short, every real browser in the world manages to get it right.

 

But then along comes Internet Explorer, who doesn't want to play nicely with the other kids. It buggers about with my PNG transparencies, refuses to obey standard CSS settings, and mauls the efficient code about until the result is a shoddy mess it then vomits it up on the screen.

Internet Explorer is like a revolting, screaming 6 year old who refuses to follow the same rules as everyone else then expects you to give it a gift for doing so. It's not revolutionary. It's not pioneering. It's just ****ing bollocks.

 

Is this idle bile? Perhaps. But IE has always, from its earliest inception, been one of the worst browsers in terms of properly interpreting web code; indeed, many of the alternate browsers have grown up to fill this deficiency, and every - and I do mean every - other browser on the planet manages to present CSS and webcode properly these days. All except poor old IE. Or rather, poor anything IE, as this persistant inability to get it right pervades not only IE6 but also IE7 and IE8.

 

Is Microsoft purely incompetent and tone-deaf to customers and the changing world around them, or are they simply counting on IE's non-compliance somehow becoming an acceptable de-facto standard?

Microsoft, you have many fine qualities, and in the world of domain networks you are rightly one of the frontrunners, but for the sake of webcoders and webusers will you please just add basic compliancy to your browser!?

 

Ok, rant over and I'm now going back to my web code to start adding the fourteen (14!) extra lines of code per affected link that IE needs to understand how to handle the site properly. All the other browsers need...um...no extra code; they just get it right.

 

But take heart, for Internet Explorer does have one redeeming feature: It's perfect for downloading a better browser.

[honeybee13]

I hate IE. And Vista. HB x

[rebel11]

The problem with every single program ever written is that it wants to be loved by your PC more then the other programs, there all vying for attention, thats ultimately what kills your PC.

[locutus]

Right, so this isn't a discussion so much as purely a thread in which I'm venting my bile at the ****e that is IE.

 

And why is level-headed, pragmatic Uncle Tez doing this? Because he has just spent the last two hours scripting and rescripting webcode purely so IE can manage to display a basic website properly, and still hasn't finished it, that's why.

 

"Maybe the problem is your web code, Uncle Tez", I hear you cry. Maybe indeed. Let's look.

 

No, my code is fast, efficient and - most importantly - 100% standards compliant. Both my suite of coding checks and W3C's own services tell me the site is utterly compliant with all webcoding international standards and that my HTML is at peak efficiency (as if there was any doubt ).

 

I look at my site in Firefox and it looks and behaves beautifully. I run it in Chrome, and the same. Safari has no problems with everything running as it should and Opera looks perfect too. I even throw the onboard browsers on three smartphones at it (Opera Lite, Safari iPhone and Mercury) and each shows the site exactly as I'd intended.

 

In short, every real browser in the world manages to get it right.

 

But then along comes Internet Explorer, who doesn't want to play nicely with the other kids. It buggers about with my PNG transparencies, refuses to obey standard CSS settings, and mauls the efficient code about until the result is a shoddy mess it then vomits it up on the screen.

Internet Explorer is like a revolting, screaming 6 year old who refuses to follow the same rules as everyone else then expects you to give it a gift for doing so. It's not revolutionary. It's not pioneering. It's just ****ing bollocks.

 

Is this idle bile? Perhaps. But IE has always, from its earliest inception, been one of the worst browsers in terms of properly interpreting web code; indeed, many of the alternate browsers have grown up to fill this deficiency, and every - and I do mean every - other browser on the planet manages to present CSS and webcode properly these days. All except poor old IE. Or rather, poor anything IE, as this persistant inability to get it right pervades not only IE6 but also IE7 and IE8.

 

Is Microsoft purely incompetent and tone-deaf to customers and the changing world around them, or are they simply counting on IE's non-compliance somehow becoming an acceptable de-facto standard?

Microsoft, you have many fine qualities, and in the world of domain networks you are rightly one of the frontrunners, but for the sake of webcoders and webusers will you please just add basic compliancy to your browser!?

 

Ok, rant over and I'm now going back to my web code to start adding the fourteen (14!) extra lines of code per affected link that IE needs to understand how to handle the site properly. All the other browsers need...um...no extra code; they just get it right.

 

But take heart, for Internet Explorer does have one redeeming feature: It's perfect for downloading a better browser.

Maybe they're in league with Tesco. I think they're creating a "ruin uncle tez's day" competition. Which one is winning?

[Tezcatlipoca]

Maybe they're in league with Tesco. I think they're creating a "ruin uncle tez's day" competition. Which one is winning?

 

Tesco, mate, definitely Tesco. Microsoft are just incompetent when it comes to web browsers; Tesco are actually evil.

[griffzilla]

...is imagining a tesco operating system...

 

I am actually a huge fan of Microsoft, especially when they realised that Vista was similar to a shiitake mushroom (without an i, and the ake & mushroom parts) . In networking terms, as you said, they are good. I hated office 2007, however when I had no choice but to use it, I found that it has actually improved. (I will revisit this point in 2 weeks, I'm still in the honeymoon period).

 

You go anywhere these days, and you find a version of windows that 98+% of even basic computer literate people know how to use. I remember the painstaking task of teaching my 85 yr old neighbour how to turn it on, write letters, emails, and surf 'that wide web thing'. She now helps her friends on computers when she goes to the local library - because Microsoft is user friendly for the basic user.

 

In terms of Tesco - I went to my old local store today (where I worked when I was younger). It used to have a pharmacy, a newsagents, a post office, a car shop, and a bank attached. It has since engulfed these stores (except the post office, which is about a third of the size). It looks identical to every other f'king tesco ever built, and just seems lifeless

 

/RANT

[pin1onu]

Tez,

 

I sympathise but Microsuck have always been off doing their own thing in the browser world. They like to introduce their own little bits of crap that don't conform to the standards. It was nicknamed internet exploder for that reason.

 

I used to encounter the same sort of thing in the early days (1995-1996) of the browser wars when it was Netscape vs IE. I'd write nice tidy HTML which worked fine in NS and looked absolutely s**t in IE.

 

You might find some of these amusing....

 

particularly this one

 

ActiveX, or how to put nuclear bombs in web pages

 

or there is a list of anti MS sites so you know that you're not alone.

 

The MSBC Superlist of Anti-Microsoft Web Sites

 

Let me finishing by quoting

 

"Some things in life are bad

They can really make you mad

Other things just make you swear and curse.

When you're chewing on life's gristle

Don't grumble, give a whistle

And this'll help things turn out for the best...

And...always look on the bright side of life...

Always look on the light side of life...":)

[qa19]

Yep IE is an absolute b****! What baffles me is why they still haven't fixed them.The CSS code is so buggy it's annoying. Try Supersleight for your IE6 transparency problems.