I suppose the key question is, “how will this browser affect the web“?

There seems to be a fair amount of focus on two primary concerns:

Concern 1: no support for XP

The IE9 team has made a deliberate decision not to support XP with IE9 – primarily around hardware acceleration and directx. This means that users have to be on Windows 7 in order to use the new browser. The biggest concern here is that many companies and organisations are still running Windows XP – and they are probably not likely to change any time soon.

This has been explored in some detail via articles like IE9 a ‘non-event’ for most businesses

But, how much of an impact will the lack of support for XP have on the uptake of IE9? When IE7 was released, we saw some reluctance to take up this browser from aspects of the community – mainly large organisations and companies who had systems heavily tied to IE6.

When IE8 came around, the uptake seemed much quicker. While IE7 usage dropped significantly, the impact on IE6 was much greater – as you can see here. worldwide, IE6 is now at 12% worldwide – around 5% for many of my clients.

Will we see the same uptake with IE9? My main concern is that the XP issue will mean that many people will not, or cannot upgrade to IE9, and that is bad news for web designers and developers!

Concern 2: Lack of full CSS3 support

There has also been criticism from some web developers for IE9′s lack of support for key aspects of CSS3 – such as Gradients and text-shadow.

IE9′s HTML5/CSS3 support is outlined at the Internet Explorer 9 Guide for Developers. As you can see, IE9 scores 95/100 in the Acid3 test, and 574/574 in the CSS3 selector test.

Where do I stand?

I’ve been building commercial websites since 1995. In those days, the key browsers were Netscape 1.2 and IE2. Since then, a large percentage of my time has been about dealing with browser differences. More recently, these battles have taken place in the mobile space as well.

To varying degrees, these “battles” have always been part of our landscape.

However, I think we are on the cusp of a new era. We are about to have new releases of IE, Firefox, Chrome and Opera to explore.

While IE9′s CSS3 support is not perfect, and there are definitely going to be bugs we uncover as this browser gets pushed to the limits, it is still a staggering improvement over previous versions of IE.

I think web designers and developers should be very excited by IE9. With good support for HTML5 and reasonably good support for CSS3, we can suddenly start moving forward into the future!

Where do you stand?

The award was a real surprise, as there are many in our industry who do a lot of great work for the web community. Thank you to all involved in the process.

“This is an important step in making democracy more open, accessible and accountable for all Australians.”

Source

Information about the guidelines and upcoming National Transition Strategy is available on the Web Publishing Guide.

Government agencies will transition to WCAG 2.0 over a four year period, reaching level Single A within two years, and Double A within four years. A Transition Strategy will outline the process for implementation, and will address scope and inclusion issues. The Transition Strategy will be made available on the Web Publishing Guide in July 2010.

Agencies are reminded that it is still a requirement to publish an alternative to all PDF documents (preference for HTML or RTF). Advice on the accessibility support of PDF documents will be made available at the conclusion of the PDF Accessibility Review Project, due early 2010.

Source

We are continuing to engage in a process of broad-based consultation, and at this stage we have not finalised a view on any specific aspect of WCAG2.0. Our plan at this stage is to develop a draft revision of our Web Advisory Note that can be circulated initially to governments throughout Australia, and then to the community for a period of public comment that will inform the production of a final revision.

Until we are in a position to make comprehensive recommendations for the implementation of WCAG2.0, our referenced benchmark for website accessibility continues to be WCAG1.0, with Level AA of WCAG1.0 being the minimum conformance level that we recommend.

World Wide Web Access: Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Notes – Version 3.3.1 – March 31 2009

Max Design CSS and Accessibility workshop series – 2009

A hands-on workshop with accessibility expert, Roger Hudson, and CSS expert, Russ Weakley:

Day 1: A practical guide to preparing WCAG 2 compliant websites – with Roger Hudson

An all new accessibility workshop that focuses on providing practical advice to help developers and organisations comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Version 2.0.

During the day, you will learn the importance of web accessibility, how to overcome common accessibility problems, how to reduce the risk of a discrimination complaint, and the techniques for complying with essential WCAG2 Success Criteria.

Day 2: Mastering CSS and XHTML – building elegant websites with Russ Weakley

Over a full day you will build a detailed website layouts from the ground up – starting with flat graphic mockups; and ending with clean markup and elegant styled pages using XHTML/CSS.

The course will cover styling forms, writing efficient CSS, use of sprites, sliding doors, dealing with browser bugs, creating print CSS and styling for different screen sizes.

Dates

• Sydney – Monday 18 May and Tuesday 19 May
• Canberra – Thursday 21 May and Friday 22 May
• Melbourne – Monday 25 May and Tuesday 26 May
• Brisbane – Thursday 28 May and Friday 29 May

Read more:

• HD Photo to become JPEG XR
• JPEG committee home page
• Better JPEG standard due in 2009

What do you think? A good thing, or a bad thing?

What terms are you using for new and existing users? Here is a quick view of 30 different sites and the terms they use.

The book is ideal for those who are about to enter the world of freelancing. It’s easy to read – only took around 4 hours to read cover to cover – and yet it’s packed with a lot of great information. The book covers everything from “deciding if freelancing is for you” to managing money, setting up, establishing hourly rates, winning clients and more.

The book also includes interviews with some well-known freelancers such as Derek Featherstone, Mark Boulton, Molly Holzschlag and Stephen Collins.

Some of the best advice in the book is based around knowing your strengths:

“An accountant or bookkeeper will bring your accounts under control much faster than you ever could, and they’re very likely to save you money as well. Let’s face it: we might be fantastic at with crafting standards-compliant XHTML, or designing very usable and nicely designed interfaces, but we aren’t on this planet to be accountants or lawyers.”