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today I came across this little note today, tacked onto the side of a column on Locus Magazine:

Note: Design issues with this blog in Internet Explorer will be addressed shortly. It displays as intended in Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Safari.

it was a surprise, because usually you see something like this, the complete opposite:

Page is Best viewed in IE6 or IE7. Some elements may not work in other browsers.

as seen at the bottom of the website for this little theatre in West Yellowstone.

it amuses me to see Locus's slightly uncommon preference for everything but Internet Explorer in contrast to the Playmill's blatant ignorance of everything but Internet Explorer. how fitting, the pleasant, encouraging manner of the first as opposed to the inconsiderate sloppiness of the second.

I am on principle, even as a mere amateur web designer, required to prefer browsers with lovely names like Firefox and Opera over the default-sounding, default-looking monster that is microsoft's Internet Explorer. but that is not the only reason I have for appreciating the designer at Locus Magazine a great deal more than whoever is in charge over at the Playmill. I have many memories of headaches endured while trying to make a certain slice of code function properly in as many browsers as possible. the note at the bottom of the Playmill's website reveals that whoever designed it must have come up against the same headaches and given up. or perhaps they simply avoided the possibility altogether and didn't even bother attempting cross-browser compliance. it's disappointing on so many levels. on the other hand, Locus gives me the assurance that they know just what those cursed web-headaches are like and they are patiently hacking away to make it right. that's the kind of thing I want to hear.