Google Chrome Frame
Posted by Steven | Filed under Microsoft, Web Standards
The path to resolving the “how do we move on from IE6″ debate has taken yet another twist this month with Google launching Google Chrome Frame, a simple to install plugin which replaces the rendering engine of IE with the engine from Google Chrome. This solution isn’t just for IE6 but works in all versions of IE from 6 up to 8, to take advantage of it all the web developer has to do is add a simple tag to their website:
<meta http-equiv=“X-UA-Compatible” content=“chrome=1″>
Here’s the video from Google announcement here which goes into more detail:
Great I hear you all say, no more having to cope with IE6/7/8 rendering issues, we can just develop for Chrome (webkit engine) and the Firefox engine which are far less problematic than IE! Yeah, in a utopian world that might be the case but as we know, that’s not how the world works, here’s the issues:
- - Large corporates with locked down desktops are very unlikely to install Google Chrome Frame, after all most haven’t even upgraded from IE6 yet
- - Home users or less experienced users are very unlikely to understand why they’d want to do this, again they are still using IE6 for a reason, it works for them! This user group has had the free choice to upgrade to two newer versions of IE and a multitude of other browsers and still haven’t, so why would they install Google Chrome Frame?
From a technological standpoint, Google Chrome Frame is brilliant! I just don’t see how it’s going to change the status quo, we’ve still got the same problems to overcome and like it or not IE6 is still going to be around for a time to come. In my opinion the best solution to the ongoing IE6 issue is to continue getting the message out to people that IE6 is passed its use by date and far better and more functional options available for free! Through Windows Update we should hopefully move the home user market onto IE7/8…eventually! As for the larger corporates, with the advent of Windows 7 we should hopefully see a substantial number of corporates upgrading from Windows XP and with it a further reduction of IE6.
While I admire Google for their ingenuity in coming up with this solution I just don’t think it really is a solution, anyone installing the plugin would be better off just installing Chrome or Firefox instead! It seems to me this is part of a larger attempt by Google to continue their assault on reducing IE market share.
Tags: Google Chrome, Internet Explorer
Silverlight – The New WebForms?
Posted by Steven | Filed under Silverlight, Web Standards
I was reading through my RSS feeds the other day and came across a post by Dave Ward aka Encosia entitled “Is Silverlight the new WebForms” which pretty much covered all of my thinking on Silverlight so far. Rather than rehash everything Dave has said why don’t you go read his post.
With my accessibility hat on I worry about the widespread adoption of Silverlight as a replacement for ASP.net WebForms or standard HTML/CSS/Javascript. With all the positive progress the web standards community has made in driving forward the “accessible web”, adopting Silverlight as a direct replacement could be heading down the Flash inaccessibility path again. Don’t get my wrong, Silverlight is a great technology and the ability to utilise the .net framework in the browser is just fantastic but as a replacement for WebForms, I think it’s misguided.
SharePoint Accessibility
Posted by Steven | Filed under Accessibility, Microsoft, Sharepoint, Web Standards
Accessibility of SharePoint has long been a topic of discussion and one of the primary reasons why SharePoint has been overlooked for internet facing websites. Company Net, my employer, have recently completed the redevelopment of our own website using SharePoint paying particularly close attention to Web Standards and Accessibility, the end result being a site that passes W3C validation and validates as AA accessible.
To debunk the myth that SharePoint can’t be accessible even further I’ve recently completed a white paper on Accessibility & Compliance for SharePoint 2007 where I go into great detail on the current issues with SharePoint and how these can be addressed to use SharePoint as an accessible web content management system.
If you’re looking for a SharePoint partner then why not get in contact with Company Net?
Hello, i'm Steven Gardner, computer junkie, amateur photographer and family man. I work for