Last Sunday the Amsterdam JavaScript meeting was a moderate success. Among others, Bobby van der Sluis, Anne van Kesteren and Faruk Ateş attended, and we had some interesting discussions.

continue reading

I just updated the Quirks mode and strict mode page. I added a bit about the "almost strict mode" and test pages for font sizes in TDs.

I also found one new problem in the validation drive: most of my large compatibility tables liberally use the <wbr /> tag, which is invalid. I acknowledge the problem, I will note it in the validation texts, I will remove all other validation errors, but right now I'm not going to do anything more.

Like custom attributes, the <wbr /> tag requires some more thought. As my research shows, this tag is the least bad alternative for adding soft word breaks to pages; and the compatibility tables badly need soft word breaks.

A few readers may have spotted the delicate gray text that appeared at the very bottom of my homepage last Saturday. It says "Valid XHTML 1.0". These few readers may even have drawn the correct conclusion: QuirksMode has started moving in the direction of valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional. Note: "moving in the direction of". For reasons I explain below this site will never be 100% valid, but I have decided to make an effort and see what happens next.

Besides, my content pages are long, long overdue for a cleanup, and I'm going to combine this sanitation with the switch to XHTML. Unfortunately the very first static page I edited gave raise to a fundamental question that I don't have an answer to. Therefore I submit one aspect of the maintenance of QuirksMode.org to a reader vote.

continue reading

It's getting busy on the JavaScript front. For a good overview of what's happening right now you should read the three articles I mention below. They discuss different aspects of the change JavaScript is going through at the moment. As an extra I've thrown in a little trick I've been using quite a lot lately.

continue reading

Op zondag 26 juni vanaf 15:00 uur vindt er te Amsterdam een kleine JavaScript bijeenkomst plaats, georganiseerd door Bobby van der Sluis en mezelf.

Er is geen echt programma; we gaan gewoon wat met elkaar drinken, wat over JavaScript praten en we zien verder wel wat er uit komt.

Locatie: Café De Jaren, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 20-22, Amsterdam, vlakbij de Munt. Tram 4, 9, 16, 24 of 25 vanaf het Centraal Station, bij de Munt uitstappen, links de brug over de smalle straat in en dan kom je er vanzelf.

Ik hoop daar een paar van mijn Nederlandstalige lezers te treffen.

The JavaScript revolution started on Saturday 11 June at about 3pm (16:00 Central European time) in a fitting setting: a smoky London pub cellar that contained most of the UK's strategic beer reserve. If you weren't there, don't worry, you'll have plenty of chances to join us. In fact, we need you.

What we basically agreed on is that we need to get the word out. JavaScript is ready for its proper role in modern, standards based websites. During the conference we found plenty of evidence that there is much interest in JavaScript, if only people could get more help and more explanations.

continue reading

@media 2005 was far, far more interesting than I'd expected, and I had high hopes to begin with. I met a lot of interesting and nice people, I was pleasantly astonished by the number of people that know my work, and I found distinct, unmistakable evidence that JavaScript is emerging from the wilderness and is ready to play its proper role in modern, standards based web development, even though its relation to accessibility has to be re-thought from the ground up.

@media was more than great: it was necessary. Patrick Griffiths, thank you for making all this possible. See you next year.

continue reading

Today I leave for London to attend the @media 2005 conference. I will return home on Sunday. During that time this site is effectively closed: anything that needs my personal approval, as well as any mails I have to answer, will have to wait until next week.

Hope to see some of you at the conference, or maybe at Saturday's JavaScript get-together.

I just finished a major update of the About page, which gives some information about myself and about QuirksMode.org.

Next Thursday and Friday I will attend the @media 2005 conference in London, where I hope to meet a few Web development luminaries like Jeffrey Zeldman, Joe Clark, Douglas Bowman, and many others, not to mention a few of my readers.

In addition, Dean Edwards, Jeremy Keith, Stuart Langridge, Simon Willison and myself will meet on Saturday 11 June for an informal JavaScript get-together, to which you, too, are invited.

continue reading