Sync Your Browser Settings With Google
Just when I want to start hating the enormous business beast that Google has become they go and do something that that is little, simple and wonderful. Google Browser Sync has been released and it’s a Firefox extension that does all of the browser syncing that some mac users drop $100 a year for.
Google Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions.
Awesome. You know, I really like Safari as a browser, but with the talk of the next big Firefox release and now great extensions like this, I might be switching to Firefox on my Macs before the day is over. (Firefox is already my browser of choice on my Windows box at work.)
Via Daring Fireball
Safari and I Are Having a Spat
Subtitles: “Safari Bugs Are Killing Me” or “No one says spat anymore!”
Remember last week when I mentioned that there have been some weird bugs afflicting the new design? Well after getting a look at some of the found bugs, I seem to have squashed all that I can, but there is one bug that is equally annoying and also, seemingly un-squashable: The Double Text Safari Bug
I’ve tangled with this beast before on the last version of the site and it appears to have sprung back up like the cross-eye-inducing bastard that he is. The ugliness shows every so often, and only in Safari (hence the name). What happens is the right side column’s content is redrawn after about halfway down the page making the lower portion of the column nearly unreadable. What makes it more annoying is although, clearly not in my code, I can’t find a specific reason why sometimes the problem shows up and other times it won’t. I know its probably a Safari bug and I did nothing wrong, but I was hoping I could find an answer that it only happened on “floated divs” or some other style element that I could work around. Sadly, every time I think I have a lock down on the issue, the cause changes on the next occurrence. Take the sites current state for example, when I remove the image of the flash animation for this story below this one on the front page, the double text stops. Put the image back, and the doubling text comes with it. Now what the hell does that image have to do with the side bar? I have no freaking idea! I guess for now I’ll have to deal with it until I either Safari updates, or I get more data. (If you see this problem too, leave a comment or shoot me an email: mike at hellyeahbitch.com, thanks!)
I really liked Safari, but things like this seem to be stacking up against it. More and more sites don’t work as well with Safari and now I’m hearing rumblings that the new Firefox 2 Alphas are looking pretty nice and fast for OS X. Is switching my browser the answer to some of my woes, or is that just like tinting my car windows so that I don’t see the homeless people as I drive in my limo? (The problems with sites, including this one, will still be there, but at least I won’t have to deal with them.) I’ve tried to switch to Camino, but if I’m going to Camino, then why not just go to Firefox and get all the great extensions? However the problem with that is Firefox for OS X is ugly and it has issues of its own. I suppose there is always Shiira…nah, who the hell uses Shiira?
Stop Supporting IE 5, Start Supporting Safari!
Long story, but I’m moving this weekend and I needed to change auto insurance companies, because my current one thought I was moving to the ghetto or something, and made my new rates ridiculous. Anyway, I ended up with Progressive and I had to sign some electronic documents on their site. I click on the link, sign in and then I get presented with some serious OS-racism: “Compatibility Error: Please click here to download Internet Explorer 5.0″ Ouch…and no. There is no way I’m letting that most horrible of horrible browsers on my beautiful iMac. Hell I don’t think you can even download it from Microsoft’s website still can you?
Either way, that was my situation. So I reach for my trusty Safari Debug menu and change the user agent to “IE 6 Windows” and reload. No dice. I tried using Firefox…also denied. Luckily I have Virtual PC installed on my machine which I’m now having to use for this stupid task. I don’t know about anyone else, but I find this very unacceptable.
OS-racism must end. Take the extra time to make a site that works in ALL MODERN BROWSERS. That means: Safari, Firefox, Opera (Yes, Opera), Camino, Internet Explorer 6 (Yes, IE). It does not mean: IE 5.0 for mac. If Microsoft doesn’t support it, no one else should. In fact, that should be the rule: If a browser is no longer updated, web developers (like myself) no longer need to support it. It might be nice if they did for a while, but they don’t have to.
Let it be spoken, let it be done!