Net Renderer-Testing IE Compatibility in Mac OS X

I do all my web development on a Mac. This has worked out quite well so far as most of the tools available for Windows Based PCs are available on the Mac platform as well. One problem that I often run into though is browser compatibility esp. with Internet Explorer 7. Today I was showing a colleague a website that I just finished up and all was well until I went back to my desk and open the site in IE 7. A letter that should have been in my sidebar was floating over to the right just a wee bit much. Anyway, I came home and decided I would see what was up since all was well in the other browsers that I tested. As it turns out I had an image fighting with some text because I did not explicitly specify the alignment of either. Since Microsoft dumped IE development for the Mac platform I went searching for some tools to help. After a bit of googling I came across Netrenderer. This tool allowed me to type in my URL return a screenshot of my site within seconds. I know it works because I tested the site before and after I made the changes and noted the difference. Anyway, Netrenderer allows you to see how your site will be rendered in Internet Explorer 5.5 to 7. Its fast and it works that’s all there is left to say.

Dell’s New Blog

Dell has launched an official blog called one2one. They have some video highlights of their new products and explain them in great detail. I checked out the video of the Latitude D420, their 1″ thin take this on the plane with you goodness. Have to admit that I got a bit impatient coz I was wondering about the price the whole time. I went to the Dell site and checked out the price and it started at ~ $1400 under the Government employee section (usually some sort of discount). Anyway, after looking at the specs I wasn’t impress and having just seen a Macbook last week I was like that ain’t a good deal. I can get a 2 GHz Core Duo as opposed to a Core Solo, 80GB hard drive @ 5400 RPM as opposed to the D420’s 60GB HD @4200 RPM (this is an upgrade), plus by the time I added the CD/DVD player to the D420 I have about the same weight anyway. Not to mention I get a nice shiny 13″ (not 12.1″) screen and the ability to run Mac OS X and Windows on the same machine. Gosh I wish I could get a Macbook before Apple realized the sweet deal its giving away and take it back. Anyone care to donate one to me go ahead.

macTV’s New Look

macTV has a new look. Only reason why I know that is that I visited it from my favorite mac Blog. I’ve never visited macTV to be honest until today. I started checking out a few of the ads and was pleasantly surprised that I liked em. The first was the Ellen Feiss ad. She’s been getting a bit of ink on my fav blog of late and had no clue who she was. Sorry didn’t get back into the Mac World until last Fall. The ad was from 2002. I really liked the ITMS ad by this kid name Jacob (pictured above). Its the only Eminem song that I like (the clean version) and I thought the kid looked a bit like him. If you haven’t given the site a look through before here is your chance.

Website Redo

I was getting kinda bored with the look of my website so I decided it was time for a redo. To help me in my endeavor I used the Blank White template from 11 Mystics and concocted my own links. The hardest part was having to redo my photos since I had a lot on there. I still need to port a few of my older photo albums but maybe I’ll stick to the photos I have up there now for a while. I realized that a dual monitor system would have been helpful here. Too bad my Mac Mini doesn’t have another graphics card in it for that sort of hookup. I suppose I might be able to get a splitter but with only 32 MB VRAM don’t know if it would be worth it all that much. That’s about all for now its getting late and I need to get some relaxing on while the night is still young.

No More Ask Jeeves

Remember Ask Jeeves? The valet who has overseen searches on the Ask website since the 90s? He’s apprently retiring at the end of the month and will no longer be on the askjeeves.com site. They decided to axe him way back in September of last year but he stayed in place while the company investigated how users felt about the change. Not sure how the users felt but he’s a goner at the end of the month. I guess the valet image doesn’t quite cut it nowadays but its a shame to see the little fella go.

The Grey Cubicle-More iWeb Goodness

I just finished revamping my iWeb site (The Grey Cubicle). Actually its virtually the same as the last one except that I decided to change the template. This template is a bit cleaner and seems to load faster probably due to very little objects unlike the last template that had all these hidden objects all over the place. Since I remembered to save often this time I didn't lose much. The only thing is that I wish you could simply switch templates w/out a redo like you can in Sandvox or RW. I still say though that Apple is on to something with iWeb it is so easy to use its almost addictive. I also wish that you could change the date and time of your blogs. I had a few blogs from another blog site that I wanted to republish here and I didn't find a way to change the date… The Apple folks didn't think this one through or I'm missing something.