I’m pleased to announce the addition of a new author to web-graphics.com: Me.
I made my first post this afternoon (regarding the new version of Safari), and I hope to become a worthy contributor to the site. Just to have my name on the short list of authors (some of the brightest minds on the web today, in my opinion) is an honor, so I will do my darndest to make it worthwhile.
If you’ve never visited, check it out today. I’ve also added the site to the list of links on the right.
Dave Hyatt posted a query regarding the default text size in Safari, Apple’s new web browser (currently in beta). I posted my suggestions in the comments for his post, but I thought I would mirror them here for your reading pleasure:
It seems a lot of the comments posted thus far are personal preference, which is not (in my opinion) the issue at hand here. If a user wants to change the default font size setting, it should be easy to do so (in that regard, placing the -/+ buttons in the tool bar by default would be a terrific idea), however, a user’s personal preference should not necessarily be taken into account for the default setting.
From a developer’s point of view, I agree that adopting the “standard” used by other major browsers on the Mac OS and other platforms is a good idea. It makes life much easier for web developers, since we can rest assured that we will not have to create a separate set of CSS font rules just to accomodate Safari users. Also, since many Mac-based web developers are likely to use Safari as their primary browser, having the output mimic that of the other target browsers we develop for is a very useful feature.
From a user’s point of view, I have to view many sites every day which are developed on other platforms, and a high percentage of those sites are built with a certain target font size in mind. Hence the number of comments regarding very small text on certain sites built with PC users in mind (read: WinIE). I applaud your team’s current efforts to mimic many of the functioning behaviors of WinIE, since it would be naive of anyone to ignor the strong hold WinIE has on the worldwide browser market. Many PC developers will never specifically target Safari, or any other Mac browser, and others are not likely to go out of their way to test a site on Safari to make sure it is usable, legible, readable, etc., so a strong case can be built in favor of making the Mac/Safari browsing experience as good as possible by reducing the number of rendering differences between WinIE and Safari.
Safari is already my browser of choice (except for a few of my firm’s sites that still have rendering problems only on Safari — see http://evergladesgateway.com/ for a recent example) but there is always room for improvement, and improving the overall user and developer experience is the way to make Safari not just the best Mac browser, but the best browser on any platform.
If you live in the US, it is almost impossible to go a day without hearing or seeing a live update on the war in Iraq. Whether you are for or against the effort, it is clear that this confrontation has changed the way everyone views war — literally.
I must say that I am somewhat fascinated by the ability to view war correspondants riding along with US military units into battle, forging through the desert, mortar fire landing alongside (occassionally), fighting blinding sandstorms to reach their objectives. I only wish the media was not so dead-set against showing us the uncensored view of the war — too many times has history waited too long to come clean on the brutality of conflict, and each time it only shelters us even more from the actual cost of war.
That said, I could also do without the 24-hour coverage — I’m ashamed to admit I’ve done little work since the war began, spending more time glued to the TV screen (or the radio) than anything else.
I wonder what’s on CNN right now…
If you’re arriving here after following Zeldman’s link to my AppleScripts, then I’d like to welcome you to my humble corner of the internet.
If you use OS X and have been frustrated with the lack of a method in any browser to view web page source in an external editor, then check out the scripts. You’ll like them :-)
OK, if there’s anyone out there who actually reads this site, please let me know your thoughts on redesigning this site.
First, I’d like to know if you think the site needs a redesign. If you do, comment on what you would like to see in the design (usability features, layout, colors, etc.)
I promise I will review every single item of feedback, and since this site is mostly for you, the reader, I will be weighing your input more heavily than my own this time around.