Comments on: CSS & Troubleshooting IE6 http://www.kimberlyblessing.com/archive/2009/07/21/css-troubleshooting-ie6 KBlog by Kimberly Blessing Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:40:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Megan http://www.kimberlyblessing.com/archive/2009/07/21/css-troubleshooting-ie6#comment-20378 Megan Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:29:11 +0000 http://www.kimberlyblessing.com/?p=420#comment-20378 I almost never validate my CSS. That's something that's never been important to me, for some reason. I guess because I don't find a lot of ways that CSS would become invalid. I think the other important thing to remember about hacks is to document which hack you're using, for which browser(s), and why. It could be that the problem goes away when old browsers are depreciated and yet the hack stays in there because nobody can remember what it was for. Thanks for coming out and saying that it's okay not to be valid (for the right reasons!). I know some people will actually switch to a transitional doctype when they intentionally do something minor that's invalid. Or if they can't be sure that someone won't make a mistake that invalidates the code. I've always thought that it's better to be strict - even if you can't verify that it will always be valid. I know my blog sometimes becomes invalid because I forget to encode ampersands in URLs. I almost never validate my CSS. That’s something that’s never been important to me, for some reason. I guess because I don’t find a lot of ways that CSS would become invalid.

I think the other important thing to remember about hacks is to document which hack you’re using, for which browser(s), and why. It could be that the problem goes away when old browsers are depreciated and yet the hack stays in there because nobody can remember what it was for.

Thanks for coming out and saying that it’s okay not to be valid (for the right reasons!). I know some people will actually switch to a transitional doctype when they intentionally do something minor that’s invalid. Or if they can’t be sure that someone won’t make a mistake that invalidates the code. I’ve always thought that it’s better to be strict – even if you can’t verify that it will always be valid. I know my blog sometimes becomes invalid because I forget to encode ampersands in URLs.

]]> By: Kevin Jundt http://www.kimberlyblessing.com/archive/2009/07/21/css-troubleshooting-ie6#comment-20373 Kevin Jundt Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:27:20 +0000 http://www.kimberlyblessing.com/?p=420#comment-20373 Hey Kimberly ... I don't disagree and, in fact, would like to add that even widely used libraries like YUI use hacks in their CSS files. You can imagine what a nightmare it would be to get your audience to include multiple files for each component just to handle all the hacks in a standards based way! Your library would end up not being so widely used... There's also a performance impact. The more connections you make, the slower your page loads. Sure, it's only for IE but, alas, that's still the majority of users. At PayPal, there was a core style sheet but only a single set of IE specific style sheets. At a site as large as PP, this could lead to some serious bloat. If all the IE specific code went into these files, every page is going to have to parse all the IE specific rules for the entire site even if you only need one. Still, one should try... Hey Kimberly … I don’t disagree and, in fact, would like to add that even widely used libraries like YUI use hacks in their CSS files. You can imagine what a nightmare it would be to get your audience to include multiple files for each component just to handle all the hacks in a standards based way! Your library would end up not being so widely used…

There’s also a performance impact. The more connections you make, the slower your page loads. Sure, it’s only for IE but, alas, that’s still the majority of users. At PayPal, there was a core style sheet but only a single set of IE specific style sheets. At a site as large as PP, this could lead to some serious bloat. If all the IE specific code went into these files, every page is going to have to parse all the IE specific rules for the entire site even if you only need one.

Still, one should try…

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