Web Log

Sheesh... It just never ends. Okay so not to be outdone by the release of IE7 (not that there was anything to worry about), the good people at Mozilla have pumped out another major release of Firefox which is now up to version 2.0. The following pages here at Iron Spider were updated to reflect this:

Mozilla Firefox
Best Firefox Extensions
How to Configure Firefox

The official release date was October 24th, 2006.

Okay all you fellow propeller heads, don't laugh but I was actually waiting with great anticipation for the release of Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) thinking, "Great! Tabbed browsing in Internet Explorer! Finally! What a treat!.."

Little did I know that this would also include having to deal with an entirely new browser interface which has got me hurling so many expletives that I'm sure the neighbours are beginning to wonder.

The thing that really bothers me the most is the repositioning of the Refresh button (which is now on the far right instead of the left where it's been for... what?... 11 freakin' years now?...) How Microsoft expected users of the world's most popular web browser to undo a decade of computer habits to accomodate a completely revamped GUI is beyond me. The only thing I can come up with is (*putting on my tinfoil hat*) somehow Microsoft got infiltrated by enemy agents who then coerced their lead developers into rearranging all the buttons on IE so that users would eventually throw their hands up in despair exclaiming, "That's f*cking it! I'm switching to Firefox! AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!..."

Heh heh...

Actually I've already switched to Firefox (long time ago) but, as a web designer, I'm still obliged to deal with Internet Explorer in order to make sure all the web pages/sites I manage are rendering properly in the web browser that site visitors are most likely to be using.

Speaking of which, I'm happy to report that there are no IE7 rendering issues in any of my free MySpace layouts (*wiping sweat off brow*) and only a few minor rendering issues with my Advanced MySpace Editor (which will be fixed shortly fixed) and a little glitch on the Iron Spider home page (fixed).

And after conducting a rather harrowing tour of the various other sites I manage, here's a list of issues I've noticed with IE7 so far:

1. After installing IE7, Windows Media Player may have to be updated in order to have it automatically open and play MP3 files from hyperlinks.
2. IE7 seems to have an issue with Quicktime .mov files (whether they are embedded or linked to directly). Apple has released a Javascript workaround. You can find full instructions and a download link here.

And for those of you with a penchant for punishment, you can peruse the rest of the gory details about this latest addition to the world of web browsers on my Internet Explorer 7 page where you'll find a full review and relevant links including where to download it. And yes, if you're a web designer, you will have to download this baby since starting next Wednesday, Internet Explorer will be rolled out as a 'high priority update' (*choke*) to all Windows XP users who have Automatic Updates enabled.

The official release date of Internet Explorer 7 was October 18th, 2006.

MORE...

Actually this was released over a month ago. I'm just getting around to dealing with it now. I've been dragging my heels on keeping up-to-date with this browser largely because the number of extensions officially compatible with Seamonkey is poor at best. I suspect this is because Firefox is making such a splash on the browser scene that everyone's plumb forgot about the Mozilla hand-me-down browser (now overseen by a group of volunteer developers) that comes with "everything but the kitchen sink".

Anywho, long story short, here at Iron Spider what was formerly the Mozilla Suite page is now the Seamonkey page and what was formerly the Mozilla - Best Extensions page is now the Best Seamonkey Extensions page. Since Mozilla has stopped development on the so-called Internet Application Suite, I will no longer be featuring this browser in my Essential Web Browsers list. The new kid on the block is Seamonkey. Check it out.

:o)