Not so fast, Rich Paul!
Ok, now that this whole Web 2.0 hogwash is starting to get venture capital funding, everyone is talking about semantics and css layout as the way forward for social networks and magical user-centric webservices. Well these things, like the technologies underlying the so-called web 2.0 movement, have been around for a long time. They have only just recently reached critical mass and the mainstream eye. Now I, however, was immune to the siren song since I had taken a different route and plunged into the heady world of Flash development.
So, here I am, having taken a different job, jumping head-first into the current state of standards-compliant web design. And I tell you, I believe in it. It makes sense to separate content from presentation. It makes sense to make sites easier to update and accessible to those with difficulties. But why does it have to be so damn buggy? I mean come on. It’s 2006! I would think that by now there are quite a few people in the online world that know what they would like to be able to use when putting together a site. Well, here’s my list:
- Rounded Corners. Why can’t we specify them in the code?
- Easy n-column layouts. Sure we can hack them together, but it shouldn’t be this hard to put together such fundamental site organizations.
- Alpha transparency.
- Downloadable fonts. Why can’t my text appear how I design it to look?
- Gradients. Why can’t I specify them with code?
- Rotation. Why can’t I rotate elements on a page?
- Vector graphics. Would help with the rounded corners and a whole lot more.
Now, I know the web is about content, but after all these years, why can’t we have the tools to make it easy to produce content the way we want?
P.S. This rant sprang up after the 12th time I had to edit my CSS because of another crippling IE bug which caused me to completely re-configure my somewhat complex 2 column layout so it would work again.