Articles / Websites to Help you Learn More

• hasLayout (you should learn about this)
  • hasLayout explained
  • Microsoft documentation on hasLayout

• Testing Bugs
  • Simple live examples of issues involving IE
  • User submitted and Site related demos (Very well explained)
• What’s been fixed in IE 7
  • List on microsoft developer blog of known IE 6 bugs that are fixed (Not a comprehensive list)
• Lists of bugs/issues
  • Help on figuring out IE5 Mac bugs
  • Another list of IE bugs with a short description explaining each.
  • User submitted list of issues and bugs (kept current, not just IE)
  • List of links to sites about bugs
  • Guides on what to do and how to fix issues with IE
  • Not easy to navigate, but a good list of resources for issues with browsers
• CSS guides and tutorials
  • Clean and easy to read guides about CSS
  • Articles and Guides on how to solve IE bugs
  • How to figure out which IE bug you have
  • Some more current examples of how to solve bugs in IE
• Reporting Bugs/Forums about Bugs
  • Submit your finds, search for issues (quite comprehensive, very helpful)
  • Web Bug Track, user submitted (great rundown of specific issues)

I hope these provide you with a great resource for figuring out those ridiculous Internet Explorer bugs. They have helped me.

There are plenty of standards that I try to abide by as a web developer.

• CSS – http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
• RSS – http://validator.w3.org/feed/
• XHTML - http://validator.w3.org/
• Link Checker – http://validator.w3.org/checklink/
• Section 508 – http://www.contentquality.com/
• WCAG 1, 2 & 3 – http://www.contentquality.com/

My fear is that this will open a door for the government to have more control over how we can use the internet and what we can use it for. There are already standards in place, like those above, that I (and many other web developers) try and abide by. I hope that Target ignoring these standards won’t create rules that infringe upon my freedom to create websites.

I’ve heard rumors of there being lobbying for all adult websites to have one domain suffix, like .xxx. I’m not necessarily for adult related websites or their content, but I am against restricting what can be on the internet. To me it would be restricting the ultimate public communication.

If a website doesn’t want to be accessible to a certain people group or people who are disabled, that’s their choice. They’ll just lose some of their customer base. Now if they are creating something that is to be used by and for the government, they need to abide by that government’s rules. But there is a fine line where that begins and ends.

My argument is this. Does a Spanish newspaper have to create an English version of their newspaper, or even a braille version for that matter? Will I be able to view a website from the United Kingdom from my house in New York if it doesn’t conform to U.S. standards? Where is the line that dictates how much or how little is required? The more the government gets involved because of stupid mistakes or inconsiderations by big companies, the more leeway the government gets into controlling the internet. I’m not saying that a certain people group doesn’t have rights, but when did the world wide web become a place of regulations and restrictions?

Taxing domains, restricting what can be put on a certain domain suffix (.com), or making me cater to a certain people group is dangerous ground for the government. Will the future hold that I have to make my website accessible to multiple languages if I host my website in U.S. vs. somewhere else ? If I have video on my website will I have to have a text version as well? Will there be restrictions as to what I can write in a blog post? I hope that this lawsuit will end well, but I fear that, very soon, restrictions will limit the internet more than I’d like.