Just a quick post for those who attended my Casual Q&A sessions during Innovate08. I promised you some information so here it is:

Web Streaming

• Video encoding software (see list of tools below)
• Vendors for streaming video (see list of tools below)
• Our current Streaming Video Settings: 640x360 | Deinterlace on | 750kbps max stream | 15 frames per second | 80kbps stereo (audio)
  

RSS / Podcasting

• Blog software (see list of tools below)
• Blog readers (RSS aggregators): Bloglines, Google Reader, Modern browsers like IE7 and Firefox3, Outlook 2007

Good Info for Both Groups

• List of helpful tools
  

I'm sure this isn't a complete list so hit me up for more information if you need it.

A few years ago I checked the browser stats and thought to myself, "I really only need to design for IE, If it looks a little strange in Firefox I'll try to fix the problem but if I can't figure it out I won't worry about it."

Now here it is September of 2008 and I'm facing a different reality. The graph above doesn't appear to be significant. But if you look closer you can see a consistent decline in IE users and a consistent rise in the number of Firefox and Safari users (for example).

I found the numbers interesting, but soon forgot about them. That is until I got into Google Analytics the other day and saw this:


Keep in mind, the typical person that frequents WebDrivenChurch is probably a bit more tech savvy than the average person and more likely to test new apps/browsers. But I was still surprised that the numbers were so much different than they had been even a year ago.

IE is now under 30%
Firefox is now close to 60%

I just installed Google Chrome which probably won't cause a stir for a while. But I can't wait to see how fast it climbs the browser ladder.

So what's your favorite browser?

So I was thinking the other day...what would it look like if Mac and PC stopped focusing on their differences and found common ground? If they dated for a while, got married and had a child? What might that look like?

Obviously I assumed it would be a positive thing...

But seriously. I have one foot in both camps. I've used PC's my entire life and yet after using the MacBook Pro a few times I totally see the value in going this route for my music, pictures and AVCHD video.

Unfortunately, that's where my Mac love ends. Try to do my typical daily routine and my blood pressure rises. Replace Outlook with Entourage? Are you kidding? Carry a power cord everywhere I go? Don't think so.

Back to my illustration: If only there were a "Cindy Crawford Solution" to this problem. How cool would it be if I could purchase Mac tools like iMovie, iPhoto and PhotoBooth for my PC? Or Outlook for the Mac? What if all open source and online programs worked as well on the Mac?

I know. I know. Capitalism. Each one needs have a unique niche in order to compete for market share.

Whatever! The browser wars are almost over now that IE is becoming standards compliant. Sure they will continue striving to be number one. But hopefully in feature sets and not obscure functionality.

So couldn't this be a next step? Bill? Steve? Can't we just be friends?

I know developers tend to have favorites when it comes to browsers, but they typically play nice by ensuring their applications work in at least the major browsers (IE, Firefox, Opera and Safari).

So I found it refreshing (and yet a bit arrogant) that socialthing not only decided to forgo browser compatibility, they even decided to use the little 'IE = NOT!' sign.

Of course it says, 'We don't support that yet!' but do you really think they will support it?

If you don't take the time to support it along the way, what's the use trying to retrofit your site to support it later?

I guess they can just thank their lucky stars that IE8 passed the Acid2 test and will support web standards on a much stricter level.

I know I'm looking forward to it.

Is it just me? Or should Google change their page title from 'Dashboard - Google Analytics' to 'Google Analytics - Dashboard'?

This way instead of the tabs in IE7 saying 'Dashboard - Google Anal...' it might say something like 'Google Analytics - Dash...'

Or am I the only one that notices stuff like this?

I posted about the launch of IE 7 Beta 2 a while ago, but never offered a follow up post on some of the issues I began to have. The main one was a glitch (or at least I think it was a glitch) where I would lose all my ftp connection settings in Dreamweaver when I closed the program. Each time I opened Dreamweaver it would say "Not able to connect to remote host" and when I would get into the site properties there would be no user/password info there. It started the minute I began using the beta version of IE7 and ended the minute I uninstalled it. My wife also noticed some issues on her Dell Inspiron E1505 that went away when IE7 was uninstalled.

So I just resigned myself to the fact that I'd have to wait until the official release in order to use IE7. But this week I checked out the site again and saw that they are in the final stages and are offering the IE7 RC1 (Release Candidate 1). I jumped back in and I'm glad to say I have not had the same Dreamweaver glitch with this release.

I'm not saying I won't experience some problems in the future, but right now I'm really loving the new look and the tabbed browsing. RSS feature is cool, but it's hard to compete with something as functional as Bloglines.

From a development standpoint, I'm also looking forward to the day when all browsers play nice and agree on the same web standards (mainly where css properties are concerned) - hopefully this is a step in the right direction...

I love a new idea, product or version of a product that makes life easier for everyone. So it is no wonder I am constantly on the lookout for the latest and greatest in browser technology.

I am staying away from Netscape for now, but use IE6 and Firefox interchangeably. IE is the standby that never fails, while Firefox offers the cool features and has awesome extensions to personalize and maximize the performance.

But the other day (3/20/06) IE7 Beta 2 was made available and I have been trying it out to see what I think. So far I love it! Reminds me a lot of Firefox with integrated RSS feed management and tabbed browsing. I like the new minimalist approach to the toolbars and the floating favorites menu that can either fly out or be pinned to the sidebar. Also, check out the zoom feature to see the small stuff!

Of course there are drawbacks to any Beta version (I purposefully did NOT try Beta 1 to avoid the initial bugs). Already I see some issues with flash objects (requires you to click on them initially to make them active) but I haven't had it long enough to give a full list of my likes/dislikes. The thing I'm really looking forward to is whether or not microsoft is going to play nice and work toward standardization for cascading style sheet (css) support...

Hopefully after a bit more work, they will release IE7 and the world will be a better place for all of us!