The Website’s Nearly Open

I feel like Mark Zuckerberg early on in “The Social Network.”

I have been working on the site for our new web development company. Long hours. This should be our showcase, right? It’s important to demonstrate what we’ll do. Everything is under the microscope.

I have been happily typecast for 28 years. Now, I need some cred as a developer.

Sometime later today I’ll officially open the doors. The site is running, but a few minor changes might still be made.

There is a special bit of hell web developers enter because of Microsoft. Thanks, Bill.

The web is based on standards. Car tail lights are red and electrical plugs have two parallel slots a specific distance apart because of standards. We don’t think or worry about these things. They’re always the same. The web is supposed to work the same way.

The web’s standards describe the response your browser gives when it receives a specific command. In a few critical cases Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is non-standards compliant. It does its own thing. Groovy, baby.

The code I write looks different on most versions of Internet Explorer. If I write four boxes across, IE might display three and one below the first.

Might? No, it did. Fixed.

There are inelegant hacks. They consume loads of time for little benefit. You’ve gotta do them. Each individual visitor is important no matter how they’re seeing the site. It’s a good challenge.

A moment ago Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome were all open on my computer. Gotta check. Gotta make sure.

The buzzword today is “responsive.” Websites are supposed to gracefully reformat themselves for smaller and smaller and larger and larger screens! A typical large LCD panel is 1920×1200 pixels. A phone might be 480×320 pixels. Websites have to look good for both. It’s tricky.

I am enjoying coding.

Quiet work. Intense. Very much like writing. Creative.

I mostly write CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). It’s the language which allows every website to look different. If you glanced at a CSS stylesheet you’d recognize lots of English words, but overall it would be undecipherable.

Most of what I do concerns how sites look. I build on WordPress. It’s mature software and reasonably bulletproof. Millions of sites use it worldwide.

I still have server backups made offsite each night.

I’m in a nerdy pursuit, no?

More later.

10 thoughts on “The Website’s Nearly Open”

  1. Every new small business owner should read Rework by Jason Fried. If you haven’t read it, give it a try. It is a really different look at building a business.

  2. Looks like a great start Geoff. I’m sure you’re becoming very familiar with CSS media queries. If you think it’s stressful getting around IE’s quirks wait until you start testing on various mobile devices and tablets. If you’re too particular on being pixel perfect on everything it can drive you nuts. Good luck!

  3. Good luck with the new business, Geoff. I’ve helped a fried maintain his business website and CSS can be fun and maddening at the same time. It’s addictive though and can see why you’d want to start a developing business.

  4. Geoff – the new site is beautiful! We are proud and excited that our site is prominently featured. I’m happy to tell the world how easy you are to work with and how pleased we are with the results. Good luck and God bless, Liza

  5. Geoff: Of course you realize that Internet Explorer is the Number 1 browser for downloading a better browser, right? LOL!! As the wife of a software developer myself, I wish you all the best!! 😉

  6. And please don’t forget the occasional ‘Mac-evite’ using Safari…

    Dittos on Explorer being the number one browser used to find and download a better browser…

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