Recently we have been working on a few projects that have required some rather complicated CSS scripting. For those who don’t know (or don’t care to know) CSS is a file that changes the way a website displays, and tells the web browser how to render the content of the site. CSS has been around for many years and is now the basis of any website that is being created, it allows the site to be better designed and allows modern browsers to load the site much faster.

The operative word in this last sentence was ‘modern’. Over the years website design standards have changed for the better, creating standards for web design and site rendering has meant that sites can be created faster as they usually look the same on each browser on each operating system. Nine years ago this wasn’t the case, this is when Internet Explorer 6 came out, a massive upgrade from its predecessor, it quickly became the most used browser in the world. It rendered pages fast, was easy to use and looked pretty good (for a Microsoft program!). But the main problem with it was that the Internet was changing too fast, and it soon became outdated. This is now a massive problem, as people are still using IE 6, a 9 year out of data piece of software that has no place in our new modern Internet. Keeping all of our sites viewable in IE 6 is a massive job, and requires a lot of extra work that could be a lot better spent on other things.

For example, to get our Standards Compliant website to look correct on IE 6 we have to load a completely new CSS file, which has had to be written just so that IE 6 works. In other sites, we have had to do the same, and in some more advanced sites, javascript has to be used just to get pages looking nice. We have decided that this shouldn’t be the case any more and have pledged to the Bring Down IE6 Cause. IE 6 has massive security flaws, the government of Germany and France have both publicly warned against using IE6 as it has so many problems and can put you at risk of identity theft. Microsoft have said they will support Windows 2000 (which only allows IE6 and below to run) until this year, so maybe its time to update your OS is your running 2000 still. (or get a Mac!)

All it takes is for people who are using IE to go to Microsoft’s website and download a newer version, IE8 is currently the newest one. You might  even get an automatic update about upgrading quite a bit which you just choose to ignore, don’t ignore it this time. And as you are doing this, we actually recommend you use a different browser totally, Safari, Firefox and Opera are all a lot better and much faster.

This blog will have told you if you need to update your browser, so if you saw the message, follow the links and get yourself upgraded, it will take 10 minutes maximum!

We want to make it clear that we are NOT stopping developing and coding for IE6 at this time, unlike a few companies, but we hope that one day we can.

That’s all for now.

J

We are pleased to announce the launch of the X-Fire Design Labs. The labs is the area of our site that we have set aside for current developments and work in progress. Many of our clients have been asking for this for a while, and we have finally found a great way of implementing it. It allows us to showcase our current experiments, and creates an easy place for all our clients to find their projects that we are currently working on.

The Labs can be accessed by visiting labs.x-fire.co.uk or using the link on the main website. Each client will have a folder with their current work in, which can be password protected if you would like. All of the artwork we create, and pages we code, will be put into these files so that you can download anything you need right from our website. When a new website is being coded it will be uploaded here for testing and proofing before uploaded to the final server, this gives us chance to make sure that everything is working great before we go live.

In the coming months you will see this area of the site quickly fill up, as more and more projects come in. We will also be experimenting with a few projects of our own, which will appear at some time so keep a look out!

Thats all for now, I would also like to take the chance to wish you all (a little late) happy New Year, 2010 is going to be great!

J

With our recent work with the visitor centre for the Cathedral we were approached to help solve a problem some of the development staff where having. A 400 page document had been produced discussing the various options and ways to develop the Cathedral and raise the money to make the changes.

The Cathedral has set up various groups, which meet regularly to talk about how the design is progressing, and the Director of Fundraising & Development, Anthony O’Connor was required to distribute the document to all of the parties involved in these various groups.

Rather than print 50 copies of a 400 word document, costing a lot of money (and trees!), he decided to put the file on to CD Rom. We were asked to firstly secure the document so that it could not be copied, and then produce a CD cover to make the package look professional.

We took this a stage further and produced a CD Auto-run program which greeted the user and allowed them to view the document, as well as install the required software (Adobe Player) to view it if required. The finish product is currently being distributed to everyone involved, and the feedback is good, form a design point of view, and an environmental one too. We look forward to working with the Cathedral more over the coming year.

J