Blogs

With the end of IE6 support by Google I've decided now is a good time to post about fun with developing web apps that work on IE6. Whilst Firefox is a much superior browser to IE, IE for the most part is okay. Except if you're developing front end apps that need to operate properly on IE6 as well.

Life then becomes endless fun of trying to work out why things only happen in IE6 but not elsewhere. CSS gone wild, box model fun, random behavior. Caching issues (though that applies to IE5+).

The interesting thing is that IE6 usage is probably actually declining as many small-mid size sites/companies are actually no longer supporting the browser and equally users are using newer versions. But the problem then lies with large corporations who have SOE builds most often which have IE6 installed. If you then think about that, then that's still quite a lot of people using IE6 who may hit your site during their lunch break.

Food for thought, but it's slowly getting there...

So a few days ago Firefox on my Mac starting giving me "The connection was reset" everytime I tried to access my website. The odd part was, if I accessed it in Safari it loaded up perfectly fine. After which if I retried in Firefox it started working.

So tonight whilst I'm up late (on-call this week, so have some work to do tonight), I went on a mission to rid myself of the "The connection was reset" error. Disabling/enabling of plugins and resetting of Firefox preferences later it appears the problem is solved. And in the end it looks like all I had to do was clear my cookies.

And now I'm back in Firefox land :-)

Next post will be on IE woes... the bain of every developer... especially when the dreaded 3 characters of IE6 is mentioned...

Headed over to Freshwater this afternoon with two of my friends for an afternoon at the beach. Nice sunny Sydney summer weather that wasn't too hot made for a great day. And my first trip to the beach this summer - I didn't count swimming in Asia as that's not quite the same as a Sydney summer.

There's something about Sydney I reckon... everytime I come back from holidays I'm glad to be home. I'm not really sure why that is exactly. I love the climate - not too hot/cold (except maybe those crazy 40 degree days!), water is pretty much within easy reach - makes for a nice sunset view coming over the bridges on the way home, parks to cycle through and enjoy and the lifestyle.

I haven't really live in another country for an extended period of time, but I reckon Sydney is somewhere I'll always enjoy returning too.

So it feels like its been raining for like 2 weeks straight. Which isn't really that bad if it were not for the humidity. Humidity which makes me feel like I'm in SE Asia except for the fact there's no market round the corner selling awesome food.

Other than that not too much happening. Been working pretty intensely so weekends have usually been rest. Looks like I'm playing soccer again this year so got to get back into shape... and on the bike! Maybe more Wii playing will do the trick?

On that it's bed time... if I can rid myself of these hiccups!

Flicked through the TV Guide this evening and was somewhat surprised that ABC3 was re-airing Heartbreak High, one of the better Aussie TV shows of all times. Ironically (or coincidentally?) most of the better Aussie shows seem to have the same cast/crew combo working on them.. Wildside in the mid/late 90's... to today where you've probably got the Underbelly series on Nine.

So in a break from my usual Monday night workings, I flicked my TV to ABC3 and was even more surprised when they were showing Season 1... (which Ten originally had the rights too)... Looks like I may be having a 30 min slot with my TV each night seeing I haven't actually watched much of the earlier seasons...

Got home yesterday and have been sleeping/resting most of it as didn't feel very well after all the flying... Other than that catching up on internet and all...

Some highlights from my internet surfing...

United States of Pop 2009, an awesome mashup of the top 25 billboard hits for 2009

I Love Lunch! The Musical, another awesome mission by Improv Everywhere

In about 45 minutes I'll be leaving the hotel on my way back to Noi Bai (Hanoi) airport. Spent last night wandering the lake looking at the flower displays. It was really packed in the early evening but towards midnight it became a bit easier to walk around. In the end I ended up going back to my hotel at about quarter to midnight as it was rainy and I'd seen the majority of the displays. Was quite tired as well.

Oh in my travels back from Laos... you know you're in a tiny airport when:

• You have to scan your bags BEFORE you enter the airport
• They don't require you to present your bag of carry on liquids nor do they make you empty your water bottle that is almost a litre and half full
• You can pass through immigration and get exit stamped but still pass back in to the main area of the airport to buy food
• After security screening, to go to the toilet you have to exit the main area to this other area where you can walk outside but on the way back you don't need to get rescreened. And you can take your carry on bags out with you...

Anyways better get ready... Sydney tomorrow morning... yay!

Just finished a one day cooking course and I am totally full that I don't know if I can manage grilled fish on a stick. The cuorse was really good and we cooked stacks of food.

On the internet at the moment checking in for my flights home. Gotta check in now so that I can get a aisle seat and top deck seat for the A380.

Going to hover around town tomorrow before heading of to the airport mid afternoon. Hopefully Hanoi traffic isn't too bad and I'm back at my hotel before 7pm. Going to try and have a nice meal (unfortunatley by myself), then hopefully the night market is open as there's some things I wouldn't mind looking for. Maybe will check out the lake area as well and see what is happening for NYE.

That's it for now... see you from Hanoi (or breakfast tomorrow maybe?)

Today headed out to the Kuang Si Falls which are about 30KM out of Luang Prabung. The waterfall was quite impressive with many pools with clear blue water, some of which swimming was allowed. After walking up what seemed like a million stairs to the top, we came back down and went for a swim. The water at first seemed quite cold but soon became bearable and was in fact rather refreshing.

That is until I stood still a little too long and a fish nibbled at my left big toe. It hurt. Soon later something nibbled on my right foot after which I decided if my feet were on the ground they were going to be constantly moving.

Got back to Luang Prabung mid afternoon and went and booked myself on a one day cooking course tomorrow. I was deciding between two places, however by the time I came back my first choice was booked out, so luckily for me my second choice had one spot left. So I'll be spending 10am - 5pm tomorrow cooking... maybe I'll pick up some culinary skills to add to my somewhat limited food skillset?

Anyways got to catch up on some internet... was planning on using free wifi, but there was a power blackout and I'd already eaten and didn't want to eat again so at an internet place...

Yesterday made a boat trip out to the Pak Ou caves. Pak Ou is a series of caves above 25KM up the Mekong from Luang Prabung where there are thousands of Buddhas. These are Buddhas that have been damaged, or 'superseded'.

This morning though, woke up super early to watch the monks collect their alms. It's packed with tourists and makes me wonder (as I have read elsewhere before), whether this daily ritual is indeed part of normalcy or a result of tourism.

other than that going out to the Kuang Si falls later this morning where hopefully it will not be too cold to swim. Then in the afternoon I might scout around for a cooking course to go on tomorrow before trawling the night markets