Internet Explorer 7.0 Beta 2 (Build 5335.5)

For those who hadn’t yet heard, there is an updated version of Internet Explorer 7 available. If you want to run it in standalone mode, Jon Galloway’s IE7 Launcher will do the trick nicely.

Lots of information can be found about IE7, specifically improved CSS compliance (hasn’t yet been updated with the current build information, but will). This build is supposed to be rendering engine complete, meaning that this build will render webpages the same way that the final release will.

I’m tempted to do a full install of IE7, and simply run IE6 standalone from now on…

Camino has left the building

I’m a creature of habit. I haven’t lost my keys in years, simply because I always put them in the same place when I get home. I never have to fumble around in my pockets to find something, because I already know what’s there: wallet and phone in my right pocket; keys, chapstick, pen, and loose change in my left. I’m also a perfectionist, and I find myself driven by and towards excellence. That’s why although I use both systems everyday, I prefer my Mac over my PC. That’s why I haven’t used Internet Explorer in years. And that why I wanted to give Camino a try as my default browser for a week.

If I’m interested in some new software whereby using it I’d have to change my habits (such as changing browsers, or text editors, or mail clients), I’ll install the new software and promise to use it for a week. If after that week I decide that I like it better than what I’m currently using, I’ll make the switch. I figure a week is a good chunk of time to try something out because any irritations and possible solutions for those irritations will have surfaced by the end of the week. I have faith in this system for myself, because this is how I found Mozilla 0.99, Firebird (later Firefox), Adium, Transmit, FlashFXP, Topstyle, and other constantly-used bits of software.

I’ve had my eye on Camino for a while, but I wanted to wait until it hit 1.0 (which happened last week) before I tried it out. Having a browser with the rendering engine of Firefox, but had an Aquafied UI was very tempting to me. Instead of switching between Safari (my default browser on my Mac) and Firefox (which I use for viewing the source of RSS feeds), I could switch between Camino and Safari; Two browsers that feel Mac-like. Unfortunately, I ended up finding more things about Camino that I don’t like, so Camino has now been uninstalled. Here’s why:

1. No support for extensions. You mean, no Firebug? No Gmail Notifier? No Greasemonkey? No Reveal? I might as well be using Internet Explorer then.
2. No DOM Inspector. If it’s there, I couldn’t find it. For someone who does as much development as I do, I need to have my DOM inpector and my JavaScript console… especially if I can’t run Firebug.
3. No live bookmarks. This is one of my most used features of Firefox, and to a certain extent Safari. I need to be able to have 1-click access to certain feeds from within my browser. Or at least the ability to detect them.

There are some things, however, that I really did like about it.

1. It’s crazy fast. A Gecko-based browser that’s as fast as Safari? Camino’s right there.
2. Favicons in the bookmarks bar. Mmmm… favicons….
3. Something else. I’m sure there was something else, but I just can’t think of it right now.

If you don’t care about any of these things, then I suppose Camino is as good a browser as any other. But it seems like Camino is roughly on par with Firebird 0.6. It can render pages just fine, and it’s got some speed to it, but it simply does not yet have the feature set to make it a viable alternative for web developers. Maybe Camino 2.0 will have the features it needs to compete, but Camino 1.0 simply isn’t there yet.

Awesome view-source trick for JavaScript developers

Maybe I’m a little slow, but I’ve found an awesome little trick for people who use Firefox, and who need to dynamically add elements to the page via JavaScript.

I’ve been doing a lot of Ajax development lately for an internal webapp where I need to dynamically add nodes to lists. In my source code, I’ll have an empty <ul> tag with an ID, then I use that ID when I go and add <li>’s to it. No big deal, right?

If you use the standard view-source contextual menu item, it will show you the source code that you coded in: the empty <ul> tag. BUT, if after you’ve added your <li> nodes dynamically, you click-and-drag to select the rendered area, and choose “View Selection Source”, Firefox will show you the fully-rendered HTML for that area. As in, it will show you the <ul> tag with all of your <li> tags inside of it… just as though you’d coded it like that in the first place. How awesome is that?

So if you need to see what HTML your JavaScript is generating, simply select the area, and choose “View Selection Source”.