The beginning of the end for Internet Explorer 6

Internet Explorer 6 is facing unprecedented, high-profile criticism. Could this be the start of a broad public movement to persuade users to finally abandon the browser? While the arguments presented by developers and designers over the last decade have largely gone unheeded, declarations from government institutions and media providers may carry more significance. Posing the browser as a security risk and an obstruction to new, feature rich web applications is a clever and completely justifiable argument.

I have roughly 750 songs on my iPhone at the moment, selected at random from a pool of over seven thousand files in my library. As I listened to the music on my iPhone this evening, the playlist came to Gogol Bordello’s “Avenue B” — the earlier recording from East Infection. This was followed by the Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike version. Interesting, I thought — though not an uncommon occurrence.

Next, Dylan’s “Ballad of a Thin Man” from Highway 61 Revisited. What followed? The same, from Before the Flood. As I considered the odds of two repeating versions of two different songs, I’m hit with the live performance included on Bootleg Series Vol. 7.

Uninspired music library — highly intelligent algorithm — random chance?

Glide.

Panasonic produced a line of road bicycles in the mid to late 1980s. The bike I used to commute to work over the last two years was, specifically, the Panasonic Sport 500. A cursory internet search will tell you that a 10 speed model was released in 1985, built on a steel frame with high tensile 1020 tubes and fork.

Polaroids

A collection of polaroids taken in New York in 2006.

Styling Input and Anchor tags as action buttons with cross-platform support

Attempting to style inline objects consistently across multiple browsers and platforms is difficult enough with unpredictable standards support — trying to maintain that exact style across form input elements as well has been near fantasy until recently. Thankfully, with the combined knowledge of the web development community and rapid adoption of reworked web standards by modern browsers, solutions are available.

For a recent project I had the task of applying one consistent button style to form inputs, anchor tags, and a handful of paragraph tags — with varying widths and background colors. Taking a cue from the brilliant work already posted on the Filament Group (which is derivative of the ALA sliding doors method and the work of Kevin Hale at Particletree), I developed a class that is applicable across a variety of elements. The examples given were generally applied to the button element; my project called for standard inputs with type ‘submit’. The class scope is left open to allow for easier application to non-form elements. A few instances:

Add to Favorites Add to Favorites

Add to Favorites/p>

Guy Fawkes Day

A short clip of fireworks on the weekend following Guy Fawkes Day, filmed from the front window of my flat. Optical zoom on Panasonic DMC-TZ3. More clips soon

Guy Fawkes Day from Mark Mitchell on Vimeo.

Weather Forecast

An end to our unseasonably good weather this month

Headshift

I started work as a Web Designer and Developer at Headshift two weeks ago. They provide tools and platforms for organizations and businesses looking to further explore social technology. Given that my usage of social media seems directly inverse to its general popularity, working in an environment that encourages said adoption should be inspiring. I’m excited to join the design team and eager to dig into an array of new projects.

Geocities, In Memoriam

Geocities has shut down. I can’t imagine the service has seen much activity in recent times, even with the Yahoo acquisition. I abandoned it not longer after it became obvious how cheaply you could build and host your own domain. Geocities does hold some sentimental value. In the early days of the web it was a magnificent idea. It was certainly responsible for nurturing my interest in web design — or rather, design in general — and nudging a good number of people into learning basic HTML. In its prime, I was running a half dozen different sites in different neighborhoods.

Almost Poetry

Of all the unusual or ridiculous responses I received in response to a posting for a flatshare, this remains my favorite.

“I don’t like americans.
Saying that I don’t know all of them so forget it.
I’m a musician vegetarian against a dictatorship and against the NWO.
People should work together and be friends no matter what.
I am also an inventor an scientist and I try to make this world a better place.
If you are a good webdesigner and can sign up to this, I got a house.
[redacted] that’s the postcode.
I’m vegetarian.
I love Tim Buckley if you know him.
I play guitar i sing and I smoke.”