Monday, February 18, 2002

Following the big web-log CSS flamewar, I redid the site templates to use CSS for multi-column layout. I had used tables to do multi-column layout in the past but sacked them because they slowed down page loads (in terms of both overall time and apparent time to start showing content).

In theory, CSS takes care of these problems. In practice, it does not degrade well, and many niche browsers don't support it. So while it looks good and loads quickly on some browsers, it's a total mess on others.

So the CSS layout (including the calendar) is gone until I have the time and interest to burn figuring out how to create a site which will work for the 80% of the people who read this site using something other than Mozilla, IE 5 for Mac, or Lynx. Oh well, it was a nice idea.

Also worth pointing out: CSS layout is a huge pain to work with. None of the tools are any good. Browsers interpret the same commands in subtly different ways, and some of the major (and for my purposes, important) tags are just plain ignored. Designers have lobbied for CSS use by suggesting it frees the designer from having to fight with the code to get it to work across all browsers. I'm no web designer, but I wonder if they've actually used CSS, since it appears to have all the same problems but in new and different places.

Patriotism on the Cheap - "There's a vacuum of leadership in defining what real patriotism might be"

The non-performing country - "Unfortunately, a collapsed asset bubble followed by years of inaction have made it hard for Japan to achieve inflation, since expectations of flat or falling prices are so entrenched."

The Panic Spreads - "There is no record of any government ever being able to repay debts equal to several times the annual output of its country in real money. Japan will be no exception."

Financial regulation in America - "Firms will also have to explain why they have chosen particular accounting treatments, and show how the numbers would have looked on different assumptions."

Unspecial Olympics - "This would be absolutely fine, if it weren't for the fact that all of this money is being made off of the Olympics' reputation for being a benevolent force of good in the world."

The businessman as villain - "A businesslike people cannot afford to see lax rules and unscrupulous chancers undermine the health of the entire system. America loathes Mr Lay because it treasures the notion that business should do the country good."

The Great Unwatched - "This is not some alarmist Orwellian scenario; it is here, now, financed by $20 billion last year and $15 billion more this year of federal money appropriated out of sheer fear. By creating the means to monitor 300 million visits to the U.S. yearly, this administration and a supine opposition are building a system capable of identifying, tracking and spying on 300 million Americans."

Skeleton Plunges Face-First Back Into Winter Games - "Normal people might be able to afford it - the sleds are homemade - but they do not want to."