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February 13, 2003

Three Sheets to the Wind

Understanding any language hinges on understanding the words, and the context the words are used in. However, sometimes, the words are unclear so too then is the meaning unclear. Similarly, implementing the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) standard (see them here from the W3C) hinges on understanding the words. But sometimes, the meanings of the words are unclear. Hence, different companies, each using the same standards, can create pages that look markedly different - even when companies make good faith efforts to meet the standard. Conversely, some companies don't see the standard as keeping them from extending or interpreting the standard as they see fit and others see no market advantage to implementing it at all.

Within this context of varying understandings and differing values, it should not be a surprise that CSS is a Tower of Babel of differing interpretations.

If things are so confusing, what can be done? The obvious answer is to find the lowest common denominator that all can decipher. Unfortunately, even current browsers interpret things as simple as tables in different ways. So this won't work.

The way I've decided to go is to use CSS that seems to work in the current browsers. Hence, I've switched from the theme known as Gettysburg to GeorgiaBlue (GB). GB seems to solve the two problems noted earlier (thanks Sjon, JHR, Phil, Paul, Jonathan, and Mike). Sometime, when I have the time (like when they start having snowball fights in Hell - ed.) I'll do a comparison between the two and see why one works and the other doesn't. In either case, onward and upward.

Aloha!

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Comments

Hehe, last week there was a snowball fight in hell.

(It had snowed and the parking at the head-office is small engough to be called hell. Especially if you don't come early ^_^)

Posted by: sjon at February 13, 2003 10:56 PM