How cam'st thou in this pickle? - SHakespeare, The Tempest
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Microsoft tells developers to use WP7 specific CSS files
SERIAL SOFTWARE MONOPOLIST Microsoft has advised developers to use customised cascading style sheets (CSS) code to optimise webpage display on Windows Phone 7 (WP7) devices.
Microsoft bundles its Internet Explorer web browser with WP7, however until Internet Explorer 9 tips up later this year, its current web browser doesn't support CSS3 Media Queries. To circumvent this, Microsoft suggests developers use conditional statements to choose a CSS file so that websites display properly on WP7 devices.
In a statement that will enrage any web developer, Microsoft said, "The browser team's primary goal in the initial release of Windows Phone 7 was to ensure that any site designed for Internet Explorer would render correctly on Windows Phone 7." The only problem is that websites that are "designed for Internet Explorer" don't always display correctly in other standards-compliant web browsers. Microsoft has been causing problems like this for websites and users for at least 15 years, but it seems that it still hasn't learned its lesson and insists on breaking web standards.
Now, Microsoft says it has included an IEMobile user agent identifier so that websites can detect WP7 users and load a specific CSS file. It's an operation that developers will be familiar with, thanks to Microsoft's earlier 'liberal' interpretation of web standards, however for Microsoft to be suggesting that web developers should have specific CSS files for WP7's Internet Explorer harks back to the darkest days of the early Internet, when many websites proudly displayed "best viewed with" gongs.
Microsoft even alludes to possible problems to be faced by developers, saying, "A caveat to this method is that some of your mobile WebKit CSS might not work on Internet Explorer, and may need to be tweaked." So in 2011, web developers still have to waste time writing CSS tweaks so that their code displays as intended on devices that happen to be running the Vole's obsolescent Internet Exploder. Great.
The only hopes for web developers are that Microsoft has demonstrated Internet Explorer 9 for WP7 and will be shipping that later this year, and that promises better CSS3 support, plus the fact that the default browsers on Apple's IOS and Google's Android OS both use Webkit. µ
Tags: Microsoft
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We all know that Microsoft missed the smartphone train. The WP7 release was an early attempt trying to catch up with the competition. This problem is only temporary until IE9 for WP7 will be released. Things should be fine then. On the other hand it is ridiculous and a shame that a giant like Microsoft can't do it better. If I compare the speed how Google develops Chrome then I am wondering what all the high paid engineers at Microsoft are doing all day long? That Microsoft has now found with Nokia a company which is comparably slow won't hinder the success of WP7. Microsoft and Nokia will simply purchase market share and continue to burn shareholder money with their lack of speed. For web-developers the IE nightmare seems never coming to an end if this was not the last attempt of Microsoft to work in a dirty way around the deficiencies of IE on WP7 (which is basically IE7!).
Microsoft was punished for being a monopoly and trying to kill other browsers. If it was not for that day Internet Explorer would still be number one browser by hook and crook. Now they want to kill Android by suing Barnes & Noble. Then Microsoft & Apple can sell their inferior browsers & OS like WP7 /IOS for a few hundred quid. Open Source needs to be protected to save getting ripped off by these Monopolistic Software Trolls.
Dude, this article is so stupid; your source is a tutorial on a Blog. The blog post is just giving people tips on how to optimize their pages in small screens.
Ex.
http://csswizardry.com/2010/01/iphone-css-tips-for-building-iphone-websites/ (Does the same thing for iPhone)
You need to be more professional if you want to be consider a serious writer use real source (ex. a press release from MS urging developers).
"specific CSS files" do you even know what CSS is? If you don't know about the subject you shouldn't make an fool of yourself publishing your opinions.
So, MS is suggesting designers that want to target WP7 browser to use a finalize standard like CSS2 instead a non finalized standard like CSS3? You are a joke and this article is a Joke...
This has nothing to do with monopoly the author is probably some old hack from the 90's.
Microsoft is still like Godzilla, crushing and destroying world standards. Smash the ISO. Smash W3C.
Its Windows Phone 7 platform goes one further, and bans GPL open-source software from the platform. DRM is in place to make sure you can't jailbreak to obtain your own GPL open-source software.
The GPL is "a cancer", says Ballmer.
Since this is for mobile it's more comparable to the old WAP sites I think.
Oh and incidentally google's newest browser now has '3D CSS', something other browsers do not seem to have, so who's being the old MS now?
do MS have to bugga about with everything. As a web designer it is gratifying to see IE market share diminish. They only have themselves to blame. If IE was strictly compliant with web standards instead of introducing their own bastard code then IE would still have 80-90% of the browser 'market'. WAKE UP MS.
This is not just about browsers - it is also about FrontPage, SharePoint, IIS etc; and ultimately, Windows Server, SQL Server and so on. M$ have *all that* to play for.
No, you know what? Im wasting my time.
Next time youre sitting mindlessly clicking and watching the OOH SHINY! go past, remember that there are those whose job it is to work hard to make all that happen... and then there is M$, apparently trying to thwart them.
And in future, you might care to choose your friends more carefully.
I don't know why MS just doesn't use the Webkit. At least this way they hopefully can't piss off anyone.
Yeah. No thanks Microsoft. You're insignificant browser share means I can quite readily ignore you until you comply.
If those idiots from w3c knew better tthan Microsoft, then there wouldn't be any space for "liberal interpretation" of standards.
My mobile carrier preloads Opera on all it WP running devices. ROFL!!!
@Mark. It's not quite anti MS. It's fact that MS continues to attempt to "Rule the world" By not following the standards set up by folks that're obviously smarter than they are.
Once again MS is expecting devs to utilize non standards compliant BS So the end user can use MS's poorly coded browsers. It irritates the users, It causes web developers to spend extra time and money cause now they have to basically develop two versions of their site(s) One for IE users and another for EVERYONE ELSE!.
I wouldn't waste my time making a site that's WP-IE compliant. That's not how it's supposed to work. Browsers are supposed to fit and work with the set standards.
Now if MS's way was better? Well then there would be reason to change the standards. In this case, as usual. It isn't better. Just causes more headaches and work.
Oh, FFS. It's not like they're saying it's OK, or that they're pleased with themselves. They cut some stuff in order to get the thing to market, they're being open about the problem, and they've already announced the fix and given a rough shipping estimate.
This sort of anti-Microsoft bullshit is so last millennium, I can't believe we're still seeing it.