Alexia Bautista » Technology

Bring Down IE6!

Lex — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:21:45 +0000

As a designer, I don’t even know where to start when it comes to some of the grief that cross-browser compatibility issues has given me over the years. More specifically, IE6. Ugh. It makes my skin crawl just thinking about all the hacks and workarounds to just get images to line up and to have the design you envision just render the way it should. Other browsers have united to embrace web standards and help in the progression of web development, but IE6, most commonly used in business practices, keeps holding us back. Having a layout work beautifully in 3 or 4 browsers, only to have to backstep and butcher your code to make it work in IE6, is enough to break your spirit.

BringDownIE6.com is hoping to bring awareness to those who don’t see why it’s such a big deal. It costs time and money to deal with out-dated technology. Time and money that would be much more effective developing “Minority Report”-style computer interfaces. Yeah. That’s what I’m talking about… /drool

IE6 is the new Netscape 4. The hacks needed to support IE6 are increasingly viewed as excess freight. Like Netscape 4 in 2000, IE6 is perceived to be holding back the web. – Jeff Zeldman, standards guru

Etsy Alert: My New Desktop Widget

Lex — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:05:49 +0000

A huge thanks to Terry over at One True Tree, for making me this awesome new desktop widget! This handy little goody will keep you up-to date on the latest handmade products added to my shop, Knit Purl Geek Girl. (Requires Mac OS 10.4.x-10.6.x.)

Download the widget:
Knit-Purl-Geek-Girl-v1.0

flickr/facebook fan base

Lex — Sat, 31 May 2008 03:21:13 +0000

I was just recently introduced to a Facebook application called “Pieces of Flair”, where you can collect (or create) button badges that go on a corkboard in your profile. Out of curiosity, I did a search for “Flickr” related pins and found this… and I didn’t make it!

Oh, for those who don’t know what I’m talking about, the “button” on the right was made using this photo I took of myself and an IKEA catalogue a few years ago.

Boy, do I have fans in the oddest places or what?

down with digg

Lex — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:28:19 +0000

What’s up with Digg? As a fan of it since 2006, I’ve noticed that, lately, the quality of stuff that gets on the front page is ridiculously low. There are a lot of really dumb (and really old) articles that somehow get there with only a few diggs. Where’s the quality control? I guess it’s similar to how some other sites evolve from their lovely, simple births to their overblown current states once they really hit the big times (eg. Facebook).

*sigh*

Flickr Pervs Unite!

Lex — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:08:02 +0000

Here’s a tidbit of info that I noticed the other day, while going through some of my Flickr uploads from back in the early days of signing up. Considering this old photo is of a discarded, headless Barbie doll I saw on a California beach, I can only assume the 17,000+ views is based on visitors doing a tag search for “nude”, “beach”… and maybe “barbie”? If the thumbnail version was clearer, I’m sure the beheaded goddess wouldn’t have gotten as many hits.