Solid Cactus Store Programming Blog

The best choice you will make all year (almost)!

Tim Whitacre — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:50:54 +0000

It’s no secret that many people are switching from Internet Explorer to a different browser, but why? I usually tell people that web standards, security and usability are some of the top reasons. But what if you don’t care that much about those things? Well I just found a website that can hopefully give you that push over the fence. It’s Browse Happy and it’s one of the greatest sites on the internet right now! I say it’s the greatest not because of the design or functionality, but because of the content! If everyone dropped IE, the world would be a better place.

Recently over the holidays I was spending time with my grandparents and my grandfather asked me to take a look at his computer. He said that he was having many problems with his computer and that the problems only took place when he was using the Internet. My initial response was to switch browsers, but I also wanted to understand why he was havign the problem anyway. So I hoped over HERE, went through the entire process of trying to get an answer and at the very end it just kept saying that my issue would be looked at and resolved. Basically it got me no where!

So in the end I just ended us switching him to Firefox. Now, my grandfather uses the internet for simple things like email and news. He called me last night and told me that it was way faster, didn’t freeze up and the web pages looked MUCH better. I thought wow…. even my grandfather was amazed.

So why is it then that many people insist on using IE? I believe it is because they simply dont’ know/understand all of the issues involved.

So go to www.BrowseHappy.com and see for YOURSELF why YOU should switch TODAY!

Odd oversight

Chris Martin — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:14:17 +0000

So, I was reading an interesting article on generating columns using absolute positioning here:
http://24ways.org/2008/absolute-columns
and I noticed something very odd. The site doesn’t appear to have been checked extensively in Firefox. If I had to guess I would say it was programmed for Internet Explorer 7, but they never bothered to carry over the transparency effects to Firefox. There are a few other differences as well, nothing that looks broken per say, but it is different enough to give the impression that the second most popular browser in the market was overlooked.
Now, I’m trying to keep the snark level to a minimum here, as many of the people who write for the site can be described as nothing less than absolute geniuses. However, it does make me wonder what sort of lessons can be learned from this. Either way the articles themselves are quite good, and I encourage people to take a look when they get a chance.

New Years Resolutions

Tim Whitacre — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:10:16 +0000

Well, it’s the last day of 2008 and I’m just about to wrap my last website of they year. I was looking back at the sites I did in the beginning of the year and boy have they come along way. The Internet is constantly changing and it can be tough to stay current with the trends. This past year I have had the chance to learn new frameworks such as jQuery , YUI and Wordpress. I’ve also spent some time reading up on Zeldman’s Book - Designing with Web Standards and realizing that there is so many things I can do better to make my sites be top notch! One thing that I’ve done this last year is I finally made the switch from Pixels to Ems when it comes to font-sizes and even my layout structure. One site that has really helped me with that has been PXtoEM.com.

So with all of that said, what could I possibly do in 2009? Hmmm… I really dont’ know yet. There are so many avenues to explore. Who knows what will be the next big things of this coming year.

I’m also excited to see what new products we will come up with here at Solid Cactus.

All I do know is it’s gonna be a great year!

Here’s to 2009!

All we want for Christmas…

Chris Martin — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:27:18 +0000

So, after spending the better part of my day pulling my hair out over an Internet Explorer 6 redraw bug, I’ve decided that all we in the programming department really want for Christmas is this:
* html body {
display: firefox;
}

Hey, we already have our two front teeth> Remember, Santa has coal for the stockings of all who abuse absolute positioning. All kidding aside, it really is the most wonderful time of the year, and all of us here at Solid Cactus wish all the best to you and yours. Have a safe and happy holiday season everyone!

Security Issue found with Internet Explorer

Chris Martin — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:02:36 +0000

Greg was so kind to pass this link on to us:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7784908.stm

It seems there was a security flaw in Internet Explorer. To their credit, the fix is now in, and only two days after this news story was posted. (Don’t you love how hard it is to tell if someone is being ironic over the internet? Heck, I wrote this post and I can’t tell if I’m kidding or not.) Anyway, for good or ill, it is highly advised that you update your computer if you have not done so yet.
And let’s not forget the shameless plug for Firefox! Even if you are a die-hard IE user, it never hurts to have another browser as a back-up to use, just in case something like this happens again. Safe surfing everyone.

Testing, testing… it this thing on?

Chris Martin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:43:36 +0000

So, I made a post a few weeks ago congratulating Ryan on his one year anniversary at Cactus, and then one the next week congratulating both Sean and Keith for the same. Imagine my surprise when I looked back at the blog and realized neither post made it up! The posts must have been sucked into a black hole somewhere. So, before I spend too many minutes typing a post to nowhere, let’s just send this sample post up and see if it flies.

Sean, Keith, Ryan, happy belated anniversary! Thanks for your hard work and outstanding performance!

Happy Cactus-versary Lindsey!

Chris Martin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:12:48 +0000

Today is Lindsey’s one year anniversary of working at Solid Cactus! And what a great year it’s been. Lindsey went from being a quiet, keep to herself kind of programmer, to one of the most dominating forces in the programming department. She can churn out packages like nobody’s business, and her work is always top notch. (Not to mention she has one of the best Nerf arsenals of anyone in the programming department - watch out internet marketing, she could be coming for you any minute! ) So three, cheers for Lindsey, and here’s to many happy returns!

Cactus Proud! 11-11-08

Chris Martin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:46:55 +0000

I just wanted to take a moment to congratulate Keith and Lindsey on winning our “beat the Li machine” contest. Between the two of them they did a whopping 31 packages in the month of October! Well done!

In other news of amazing feats, Stas and Kostya have been busy helping us keep up with the holiday rush. Thanks for stepping up and lending a hand guys, we really appreciate your help. Tim also went above and beyond by incorporating his work on blogs and other areas into project Symphony as well as making sure our QA process was up to date.

Finally, I need to give another “congrats” to Keith for making employee of the month for two months running. Way to go! In general everyone in programming has been doing such a great job of stepping up and giving their all. Keep up the excellent work everyone, and way to make Solid Cactus Proud!

Background Colors…. Epic Fail!

Tim Whitacre — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:56:08 +0000

Today I came accross a very interersting post on Jeffery Zeldman’s ( The Web Standards Guy ) personal blog. It was basically about how alot of people spend time creating some of the BEST websites on the web, but since their website background is white… then forget to set a default background color. To quote JZ, “They’ll spend months iterating wireframes and design comps; write CSS hacks for browsers predating this century; test their work on everything from Blackberries to old Macs running System 7; and of course they’ll validate their markup and style sheets. But after all that, they’ll forget to apply a background color to their site…”.

Anyway, not to copy more if it… hop on over to his site and see for yourself. He’s got examples and you will be suprised at who makes the list .

Link to Zeldman’s Blog

Mixed emotions…

Chris Martin — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:16:47 +0000

So, IE 8 is plugging along (http://internetexplorer8.net/) and the reviews are mixed, at best. Normally I would just laugh at Microsoft’s sad attempts at building a browser that is even remotely standards compliant, but I find myself seriously rooting for them to pull it together on this one. Ok, ok, I have a vested interest. If IE8 takes off it might, at long last, mean we can put the nightmare that was IE6 behind us. The more I think about it, the more I think that whatever problems IE8 brings, it has to be better than dealing with 6, and at least there’s a chance that they will get fixed along the way. So, umm… as awkward as this is to find myself saying, “let’s go Microsoft!” (…kinda? …I guess?)