FIREFOX eats INTERNET EXPLOITER!

I HATE IE! Yep, I’ve said it before, and along with hundreds of others I’ll no doubt say it again... Why do we develop Standards-Compliant websites that work in all ‘standard’ browsers, and then develop separate stylesheets or an arcane series of ‘hacks’ and workarounds to try to make our pages render sensibly in the Microsoft’s non-standard Internet Explorer browser?

Because far too many people believe Microsoft when they say that they control 135.48% of the web browser market, and can therefore call the shots regarding what passes for ‘standard’ on the internet. Their arrogance is breathtaking.

To be fair, Microsoft isn’t all bad. They did bale Apple out in the 1990s and the latest version of IE is a definite improvement on earlier efforts. But there are still far too many old versions of IE in daily use out there, from the why-don’t-my IE-hacks-work-like-they-used-to IE7 to the absolutely non-standard stuff-you-we’re-Microsoft IE6 and the plain awful IE5.

The main reason IE has such a stranglehold is that it comes bundled as part of Microsoft’s ubiquitous Windows OS, and Windows users simply don’t think of upgrading to something better. There’s a lot to be said for an “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mentality. However this is overlooking the fact that IE is (always was) seriously “broke”.

which is why this graphic I came across today really took my fancy.

For crying out loud people, do yourself a favour and download Firefox! It’s miles better than any version of IE, it actually works and displays websites they way they’re meant to look – and even better, it’s absolutely, 100% FREE!

It’s St. Paddy’s again...

Well, it was yesterday anyway. And true to form, thousands of people discovered that they had green blood and spent the day rolling in and out of pubs wearing funny little green felt bowler hats, drinking green lager and Guinness and looking for Huilis to gatecrash.

What is it about St. Patrick’s Day that gets normally apathetic Kiwis going like this? Our National Day, Waitangi Day, is spent at the beach at a family barbecue or watching the cricket on TV (unless you’re one of the small mob or protesters who travel up to Waitangi every year to protest). Anzac Day, the day New Zealand discovered itself as a nation on the battlefields of Gallipoli, is a day when some of the population go to the Dawn Parade Service while the rest of us roll over and go back to sleep for another few hours. But St. Paddy’s gets bigger and bigger. In fact it has become for the Publican what St. Valentine’s Day is for Florists.

The main reason for this, of course, is the party. The Irish have a reputation for being a crowd of party animals. This is also celebrated by the Maori, who never like to be left out of such things, who now recognise St. Patrick’s day as a great opportunity for TWO party cultures to come together. It just gets bigger and bigger. In fact, there's a new movement, rapidly gathering strength, who would like to see the day added to New Zealand’s rather meagre selection of National Public Holidays. One downside of that is that if this were to actually happen, St. Paddy’s Day Revellers would probably get hit with a Public Holiday Surcharge.

The other downside is that if the workplace skiving that happens on March 17th was suddenly legitimised as a Public Holiday, it wouldn’t be half as much fun.

St. Patrick, by all accounts, was evidently a Roman by the name of Patricius, based in Britannia towards the end of the Roman occupation. He seems to have been a fairly stoic individual who had a calling to travel to a small island off the West Coast inhabited by the Picts (whose main claim to fame was the love of a good fight, the worship of Pagan Idols and a certain fondness for blue body paint), preach the good word to these heathen, and get rid of all the snakes. I doubt if he even had time for a pint at the local before he shot off.

I wonder what he would have made of it all?