Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-07 Thread Ross Levis
Interesting.

My AWStats for May shows IE visitors at 38.2%, Firefox at 33.1%, Chrome
18.2%.  That's with 179680 hits.

IE has been steadily decreasing.  In April it was 40%, March 41%.

Ross.

-Original Message-
From: delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz [mailto:delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz] On
Behalf Of Paul A Norman
Sent: Tuesday, 7 June 2011 6:12 PM
To: NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List
Subject: Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

Useful browser share graphs published by arstechnica today afaik:--

"Microsoft and Mozilla's continuing Chrome conundrum"

http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2011/06/may-browser-market-share-microsoft-a
nd-mozillas-continuing-chrome-conundrum.ars

Paul

On 7 June 2011 14:00, Jolyon Smith  wrote:
> I took those observations to mean not that the "intranets" themselves rely
> on IE6 but that they are using web apps that don't behave properly in the
> new browsers.
>
> Or perhaps more accurately that they behave "properly" in the new browsers
> where "proper" is defined by the W3C, whereas "proper" used to be defined
by
> the specification of the web app itself and the behaviour elicited in the
> browser by the HTML/CSS/JavaScript.
>
>
> Once upon a time, that "old" software for which there is no excuse to be
> using it used to be the cutting edge that people scoffed at you if you
> /weren't/ using it and were using what was *then* considered the "old"
> software.
>
> And I think you missed the point when observing that new browsers are
> "free".
>
>
> The problem isn't the cost of upgrading the browsers.
>
> The problem is that once you have upgraded all your clients to the new
> browser, your *apps* stop working, so you have to upgrade those apps and
the
> chances are that will incur direct and indirect costs not to mention
> disruption and "downtime" to some extent.
>
>
> Even for the browser upgrades, I suspect there is still a cost because not
> all *users* are competent to upgrade themselves - we who live and breath
IT
> tend to forget that many people are confused by (and can royally screw up)
> what we take for granted.  Plus, in this day and age, it's pretty certain
> that users won't be able to just upgrade their browser software without
> central IT/admin support, something that those concerned with "security"
> questions would surely characterise as "a good thing".  After all, we
can't
> have everyone just able to willy nilly install/upgrade software on their
> workstations...
>
> Those who live by the sword etc...  ;)
>
>
>
> -Original Message-
> From: delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz [mailto:delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz]
On
> Behalf Of John Bird
> Sent: Tuesday, 7 June 2011 13:43
> To: NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List
> Subject: Re: [DUG] FW: Web development
>
> I am mystified why any government organisations would be stuck on IE6
given
> its the best door for any hacker wanting to intrude into a system.   Its
how
>
> Google was penetrated 18 months ago - hackers found workstations that had
to
>
> use IE6 for historical reasons (reasons that were not all that good)
>
> I was astonished about 3 years ago to see an unnamed government department
> workstation using a pre-release version of Firefox, ie it was so old it
was
> basically the old Netscape - with diagonal arrow buttons and all, probably
> something like v0.5 and from probably 2003.
>
> Surely any government IT department should not be relying on such old
> unpatched software if even to cover their own backsides when the
inevitable
> problem occurs - its not a budget issue if free secure browsers abound.
>
> If they have to use IE6 for intranets, do they prevent IE6 from accessing
> the outside internet?   And why can they not use later browsers for
> Intranets?
>
> John
>
> ___
> NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
> Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
> Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
> Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject:
> unsubscribe
>
> ___
> NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
> Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
> Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
> Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject:
unsubscribe
>

___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject:
unsubscribe



___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Paul A Norman
Useful browser share graphs published by arstechnica today afaik:--

"Microsoft and Mozilla's continuing Chrome conundrum"

http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2011/06/may-browser-market-share-microsoft-and-mozillas-continuing-chrome-conundrum.ars

Paul

On 7 June 2011 14:00, Jolyon Smith  wrote:
> I took those observations to mean not that the "intranets" themselves rely
> on IE6 but that they are using web apps that don't behave properly in the
> new browsers.
>
> Or perhaps more accurately that they behave "properly" in the new browsers
> where "proper" is defined by the W3C, whereas "proper" used to be defined by
> the specification of the web app itself and the behaviour elicited in the
> browser by the HTML/CSS/JavaScript.
>
>
> Once upon a time, that "old" software for which there is no excuse to be
> using it used to be the cutting edge that people scoffed at you if you
> /weren't/ using it and were using what was *then* considered the "old"
> software.
>
> And I think you missed the point when observing that new browsers are
> "free".
>
>
> The problem isn't the cost of upgrading the browsers.
>
> The problem is that once you have upgraded all your clients to the new
> browser, your *apps* stop working, so you have to upgrade those apps and the
> chances are that will incur direct and indirect costs not to mention
> disruption and "downtime" to some extent.
>
>
> Even for the browser upgrades, I suspect there is still a cost because not
> all *users* are competent to upgrade themselves - we who live and breath IT
> tend to forget that many people are confused by (and can royally screw up)
> what we take for granted.  Plus, in this day and age, it's pretty certain
> that users won't be able to just upgrade their browser software without
> central IT/admin support, something that those concerned with "security"
> questions would surely characterise as "a good thing".  After all, we can't
> have everyone just able to willy nilly install/upgrade software on their
> workstations...
>
> Those who live by the sword etc...  ;)
>
>
>
> -Original Message-
> From: delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz [mailto:delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz] On
> Behalf Of John Bird
> Sent: Tuesday, 7 June 2011 13:43
> To: NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List
> Subject: Re: [DUG] FW: Web development
>
> I am mystified why any government organisations would be stuck on IE6 given
> its the best door for any hacker wanting to intrude into a system.   Its how
>
> Google was penetrated 18 months ago - hackers found workstations that had to
>
> use IE6 for historical reasons (reasons that were not all that good)
>
> I was astonished about 3 years ago to see an unnamed government department
> workstation using a pre-release version of Firefox, ie it was so old it was
> basically the old Netscape - with diagonal arrow buttons and all, probably
> something like v0.5 and from probably 2003.
>
> Surely any government IT department should not be relying on such old
> unpatched software if even to cover their own backsides when the inevitable
> problem occurs - its not a budget issue if free secure browsers abound.
>
> If they have to use IE6 for intranets, do they prevent IE6 from accessing
> the outside internet?   And why can they not use later browsers for
> Intranets?
>
> John
>
> ___
> NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
> Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
> Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
> Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject:
> unsubscribe
>
> ___
> NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
> Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
> Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
> Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
> unsubscribe
>

___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Jolyon Smith
I took those observations to mean not that the "intranets" themselves rely
on IE6 but that they are using web apps that don't behave properly in the
new browsers.

Or perhaps more accurately that they behave "properly" in the new browsers
where "proper" is defined by the W3C, whereas "proper" used to be defined by
the specification of the web app itself and the behaviour elicited in the
browser by the HTML/CSS/JavaScript.


Once upon a time, that "old" software for which there is no excuse to be
using it used to be the cutting edge that people scoffed at you if you
/weren't/ using it and were using what was *then* considered the "old"
software.

And I think you missed the point when observing that new browsers are
"free".


The problem isn't the cost of upgrading the browsers. 

The problem is that once you have upgraded all your clients to the new
browser, your *apps* stop working, so you have to upgrade those apps and the
chances are that will incur direct and indirect costs not to mention
disruption and "downtime" to some extent.


Even for the browser upgrades, I suspect there is still a cost because not
all *users* are competent to upgrade themselves - we who live and breath IT
tend to forget that many people are confused by (and can royally screw up)
what we take for granted.  Plus, in this day and age, it's pretty certain
that users won't be able to just upgrade their browser software without
central IT/admin support, something that those concerned with "security"
questions would surely characterise as "a good thing".  After all, we can't
have everyone just able to willy nilly install/upgrade software on their
workstations...

Those who live by the sword etc...  ;)



-Original Message-
From: delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz [mailto:delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz] On
Behalf Of John Bird
Sent: Tuesday, 7 June 2011 13:43
To: NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List
Subject: Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

I am mystified why any government organisations would be stuck on IE6 given 
its the best door for any hacker wanting to intrude into a system.   Its how

Google was penetrated 18 months ago - hackers found workstations that had to

use IE6 for historical reasons (reasons that were not all that good)

I was astonished about 3 years ago to see an unnamed government department 
workstation using a pre-release version of Firefox, ie it was so old it was 
basically the old Netscape - with diagonal arrow buttons and all, probably 
something like v0.5 and from probably 2003.

Surely any government IT department should not be relying on such old 
unpatched software if even to cover their own backsides when the inevitable 
problem occurs - its not a budget issue if free secure browsers abound.

If they have to use IE6 for intranets, do they prevent IE6 from accessing 
the outside internet?   And why can they not use later browsers for 
Intranets?

John

___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject:
unsubscribe

___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread John Bird
I am mystified why any government organisations would be stuck on IE6 given 
its the best door for any hacker wanting to intrude into a system.   Its how 
Google was penetrated 18 months ago - hackers found workstations that had to 
use IE6 for historical reasons (reasons that were not all that good)

I was astonished about 3 years ago to see an unnamed government department 
workstation using a pre-release version of Firefox, ie it was so old it was 
basically the old Netscape - with diagonal arrow buttons and all, probably 
something like v0.5 and from probably 2003.

Surely any government IT department should not be relying on such old 
unpatched software if even to cover their own backsides when the inevitable 
problem occurs - its not a budget issue if free secure browsers abound.

If they have to use IE6 for intranets, do they prevent IE6 from accessing 
the outside internet?   And why can they not use later browsers for 
Intranets?

John

___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Gary T. Benner
[Reply]

HI all,

At 12:53 on 7/06/2011 Paul wrote 
>I was in Villa, Vanuatu visiting with the  Red Cross there once and
>was introduced in a Duty Free shop (should have perhaps been called an
>'ethics free shop') to a pack for $50 USD which identified itself as
>being from mainland China which had every piece of modern software and
>drawing/audio/visual producing  software then current ex-USA
>(including Delphi etc!). I was fascinated at the lengths the pirates
>had gone to, and could only detect a few obvious visual flaws in the
>re-production of it all.
>
>The shop owner himself appeared and was equally fascinated in my not
>wanting to buy it all even if he knocked a few more vatus off it!

David Intersimone told me of one day he was in Singapore at a similar shop, and 
found Delphi there on sale for $5.

He flashed his Borland business card on the counter, and the lady picked it up, 
looked it over, handed it back and said, "sorry, cannot give you discount".

kr

Gary






Ref#: 41006

___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe

Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Todd
Hi Phil
> 
>> Ditto Javascript which is perfectly valid but which doesn't work the way you
>> expect in browser X, Y, Z or perm any N from M.

>   This a major reason to use clientside frameworks like jQuery, Ext etc. 
> It centralises the browser dependency issues. You still have the big 
> pain of wildly different security models in the browsers.

I absolutely agree.

Todd.

> 
> Me - Java, serverside, javascript client side. Is this too traditional 
> these day?
> 
> Notice: This email and any attachments are confidential. If received in error 
> please destroy and immediately notify us. Do not copy or disclose the 
> contents.
> 
> ___
> NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
> Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
> Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
> Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
> unsubscribe


-- 
Passion is no substitute for reason
___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Stefan Mueller
I use IETester from here http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage
to test my websites with IE6/7/8/9 ... IE6 always requires workarounds and
fixes but once you get to know what works and what doesn’t it's usually not
that much off an hassle. I usually spend minutes and not days to get things
working across all IE versions - small price to pay to support that 10% of
population that is still using old outdated browsers. 

The only thing I loathe about supporting the very old IE6 is that it can't
display transparent PNG files - there are workarounds, but they don't work
if you use CSS background sprite techniques (I am a big fan of minimizing
web-requests to speeds up things).

Regards,
Stefan 
 


-Original Message-
From: delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz [mailto:delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz] On
Behalf Of Paul A Norman
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2011 9:37 AM
To: NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List
Subject: Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

On 7 June 2011 12:29, Gary T. Benner  wrote:
> [Reply]
>
> HI all,
>
> At 10:47 on 7/06/2011 Colin wrote
>
>>Forget IE7, I believe 1 in 10 people surfing the net still use IE 6 
>>(though  I think a lot of them are in China)...
>
>>
>
>>For our company, 6% of users hitting our site use IE 6... can't ignore 
>>even  6%!
>
> In New Zealand many large organisations at stuck at IE6 because they 
> implemented intranet software that simply does not work in IE7 and above.
> This includes many Government organisations such as DHB's etc.
>
> FYI there is a fix Google have come up with that allows your site to 
> be rendered by Chrome, but inside IE6. it's called Google Frame:
>
> http://code.google.com/chrome/chromeframe/
>
> cheers
>
> Gary
>
> Gary Benner MNZCS ITCP
> Information Technology Certified Professional Onlearn Limited - Online 
> Learning Hosting & Support, Training & Content Development
> 123 Internet Limited - Managed Web Hosting, Virtualisation, High 
> Availability Systems & Cluster Technologies Semantic Limited - 
> Software Development & Systems Design, Online Education, e-Commerce 
> Disaster Warning Systems Limited - Public Emergency Warning and 
> Communication Systems
> Mob: 021 966 992
> DDI: +64 7 543 1206
> Email: g...@benner.co.nz
> Skype: garybenner
>
>
> Ref#: 41006
>
>
> ___
> NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
> Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
> Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
> Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject:
> unsubscribe
>
___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject:
unsubscribe



___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Paul A Norman
Try that again :)

As Gary points out Google Frame can sit inside IE - of virtually any
current flavour.

So we settled on focussing, when we needed to know the browser in
advance, on Chrome.

Which is sort of a shame because Firefox is excellent especially from
a developer's point of view, and may be starting to lead in font
rendering with Jonathan Kew's recent contributions.

But we believe to have all our intranet stuff is rolled out to meet
Chrome's expectations at present.

Some IE 6 reporting figures are form applications that by default
'factory setting' identify themselves as IE 6, they allow an
administrator or User to choose how the application will show itself,
but few people seem to choose to actually make a new setting it seems.

Downloaders both unattended and user started and some other
applications for movie and sound aquisition ;) do this kind of thing
too.

Chinese abundant reporting of IE6 et al has been pointed out to
suggest  previous methods and lack of restrictions on how software
might be acquired in China previously ;)

I was in Villa, Vanuatu visiting with the  Red Cross there once and
was introduced in a Duty Free shop (should have perhaps been called an
'ethics free shop') to a pack for $50 USD which identified itself as
being from mainland China which had every piece of modern software and
drawing/audio/visual producing  software then current ex-USA
(including Delphi etc!). I was fascinated at the lengths the pirates
had gone to, and could only detect a few obvious visual flaws in the
re-production of it all.

The shop owner himself appeared and was equally fascinated in my not
wanting to buy it all even if he knocked a few more vatus off it!

So when things identify themselves as IE6 it can be so in some big
corporations, but the country code says more to me now-a-days.

Paul

On 7 June 2011 12:36, Paul A Norman  wrote:
> On 7 June 2011 12:29, Gary T. Benner  wrote:
>> [Reply]
>>
>> HI all,
>>
>> At 10:47 on 7/06/2011 Colin wrote
>>
>>>Forget IE7, I believe 1 in 10 people surfing the net still use IE 6 (though
>>> I think a lot of them are in China)...
>>
>>>
>>
>>>For our company, 6% of users hitting our site use IE 6... can't ignore even
>>> 6%!
>>
>> In New Zealand many large organisations at stuck at IE6 because they
>> implemented intranet software that simply does not work in IE7 and above.
>> This includes many Government organisations such as DHB's etc.
>>
>> FYI there is a fix Google have come up with that allows your site to be
>> rendered by Chrome, but inside IE6. it's called Google Frame:
>>
>> http://code.google.com/chrome/chromeframe/
>>
>> cheers
>>
>> Gary
>>
>> Gary Benner MNZCS ITCP
>> Information Technology Certified Professional
>> Onlearn Limited - Online Learning Hosting & Support, Training & Content
>> Development
>> 123 Internet Limited - Managed Web Hosting, Virtualisation, High
>> Availability Systems & Cluster Technologies
>> Semantic Limited - Software Development & Systems Design, Online Education,
>> e-Commerce
>> Disaster Warning Systems Limited - Public Emergency Warning and
>> Communication Systems
>> Mob: 021 966 992
>> DDI: +64 7 543 1206
>> Email: g...@benner.co.nz
>> Skype: garybenner
>>
>>
>> Ref#: 41006
>>
>>
>> ___
>> NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
>> Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
>> Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
>> Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject:
>> unsubscribe
>>
>
___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Paul A Norman
On 7 June 2011 12:29, Gary T. Benner  wrote:
> [Reply]
>
> HI all,
>
> At 10:47 on 7/06/2011 Colin wrote
>
>>Forget IE7, I believe 1 in 10 people surfing the net still use IE 6 (though
>> I think a lot of them are in China)...
>
>>
>
>>For our company, 6% of users hitting our site use IE 6... can't ignore even
>> 6%!
>
> In New Zealand many large organisations at stuck at IE6 because they
> implemented intranet software that simply does not work in IE7 and above.
> This includes many Government organisations such as DHB's etc.
>
> FYI there is a fix Google have come up with that allows your site to be
> rendered by Chrome, but inside IE6. it's called Google Frame:
>
> http://code.google.com/chrome/chromeframe/
>
> cheers
>
> Gary
>
> Gary Benner MNZCS ITCP
> Information Technology Certified Professional
> Onlearn Limited - Online Learning Hosting & Support, Training & Content
> Development
> 123 Internet Limited - Managed Web Hosting, Virtualisation, High
> Availability Systems & Cluster Technologies
> Semantic Limited - Software Development & Systems Design, Online Education,
> e-Commerce
> Disaster Warning Systems Limited - Public Emergency Warning and
> Communication Systems
> Mob: 021 966 992
> DDI: +64 7 543 1206
> Email: g...@benner.co.nz
> Skype: garybenner
>
>
> Ref#: 41006
>
>
> ___
> NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
> Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
> Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
> Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject:
> unsubscribe
>
___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Gary T. Benner
[Reply]

HI all,

At 10:47 on 7/06/2011 Colin wrote 
>Forget IE7, I believe 1 in 10 people surfing the net still use IE 6 (though I 
>think a lot of them are in China)...
>
>For our company, 6% of users hitting our site use IE 6... can't ignore even 6%!


In New Zealand many large organisations at stuck at IE6 because they 
implemented intranet software that simply does not work in IE7 and above. This 
includes many Government organisations such as DHB's etc.

FYI there is a fix Google have come up with that allows your site to be 
rendered by Chrome, but inside IE6. it's called Google Frame:  
http://code.google.com/chrome/chromeframe/

cheers

Gary

Ref#: 41006

___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe

Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Jolyon Smith
> It's about complaining that an API call on Windows
> 95 works differently from Windows 8.

Except that by and large they don't - in fact, the complaint is often quite
the reverse ("Why don't MS fix/improve this API in Windows 8?" - answer:
because it has to continue to work the same in all Windows to avoid breaking
anything).


> All these things are, to a very large extend, solved by the frameworks
> people use.

Which in turn create their own problems - either shortcomings in the
framework or locking in to a specific technology (and being beholden to/at
the mercy of the framework provider).


> Obviously you can try to reinvent the wheel and discover all the
> incompatibilities yourself

Or how about this for a crazy idea... how about getting everyone to sing
from the same stylesheet and FIXing the inconsistencies once and for all ...
you know, what might be considered REAL progress, rather than just
continually shovelling out new features that have all NEW inconsistencies...
?

Just a thought.

___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Jolyon Smith
Not just J++ .NET was the EEE for Java.  They had to settle for EE-ASLJC

Embrace
Extend
Aw shucks, let's just co-exist

:)

___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Berend de Boer
> "Jolyon" == Jolyon Smith  writes:

Jolyon> My problem isn't "invalid" HTML - it is "perfectly valid
Jolyon> HTML but which doesn't render the way you expect in
Jolyon> browser X, Y Z or perm any N from M".

Jolyon> Ditto Javascript which is perfectly valid but which
Jolyon> doesn't work the way you expect in browser X, Y, Z or perm
Jolyon> any N from M.

Jolyon> Or CSS which is perfectly valid but which doesn't work the
Jolyon> way you expect in browser X, Y, Z or perm any N from M.

Jolyon> Or some combination of HTML, JavaScript or CSS which
Jolyon> doesn't work in that particular combo in browser X, Y, Z
Jolyon> or perm any N from M.

Jolyon> I had thought that these issues might have been resolved
Jolyon> at some point in the last 20 years, but sadly things
Jolyon> really aren't much better today than they were then.  In
Jolyon> some cases worse, because the tools techniques also assume
Jolyon> that things have improved, when they haven't... lulling
Jolyon> you into a false sense of security.

Missed this, but the issue here is that you are trying to do bare
bones development. It's about complaining that an API call on Windows
95 works differently from Windows 8.

All these things are, to a very large extend, solved by the frameworks
people use.

Obviously you can try to reinvent the wheel and discover all the
incompatibilities yourself, but if you use a CSS reset style sheet, a
JavaScript framework like jQuery you seldom experience issues of this
kind.

-- 
All the best,

Berend de Boer


  --
  Awesome Drupal hosting: https://www.xplainhosting.com/
___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Colin Fraser
Forget IE7, I believe 1 in 10 people surfing the net still use IE 6 (though I 
think a lot of them are in China)...

For our company, 6% of users hitting our site use IE 6... can't ignore even 6%!

Regards
Colin

On 7/06/2011, at 10:22 AM, Rohit Gupta wrote:

> Well thats where half my time goes, getting the things to work on all 
> browsers - especially the MS ones.  Then there are people still using IE7!!
> 
> On 7/06/2011 9:39 a.m., Jolyon Smith wrote:
>> My problem isn't "invalid" HTML - it is "perfectly valid HTML but which
>> doesn't render the way you expect in browser X, Y Z or perm any N from M".
>> 
>> Ditto Javascript which is perfectly valid but which doesn't work the way you
>> expect in browser X, Y, Z or perm any N from M.
>> 
>> Or CSS which is perfectly valid but which doesn't work the way you expect in
>> browser X, Y, Z or perm any N from M.
>> 
>> Or some combination of HTML, JavaScript or CSS which doesn't work in that
>> particular combo in browser X, Y, Z or perm any N from M.
>> 
>> 
>> I had thought that these issues might have been resolved at some point in
>> the last 20 years, but sadly things really aren't much better today than
>> they were then.  In some cases worse, because the tools techniques also
>> assume that things have improved, when they haven't... lulling you into a
>> false sense of security.
> 
> 
> ___
> NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
> Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
> Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
> Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
> unsubscribe

#

Attention:

The information in this email and in any attachments is confidential. If you 
are not 
the intended recipient then please do not distribute, copy or use this 
information. 
Please notify us immediately and then delete the message from your 
computer. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author.



___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread John Bird
That was the MS principle - EEE

ie, Embrace, Extend (in a non-standard way), Extinguish (the alternatives).
They tried and failed that in the Java world already with J++

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_J%2B%2B

which includes the interesting quotes from internal MS emails:

Retrieved 2009-03-15. "A September 1997 E-mail message, sent by a 
Microsoft official identified as P. Sridharan, is quoted as saying: "Let's 
move on and steal the Java language. That said, have we ever taken a look at 
how long it would take Microsoft to build a cross-platform Java that did 
work? Naturally, we would never do it, but it would give us some idea of how 
much time we have to work with in killing Sun's Java.""

^ "Microsoft A History of Anticompetitive Behavior and Consumer Harm". 
European Committee for Interoperable Systems. 2009-03-31. Retrieved 
2009-04-22. "We should just quietly grow j++ share and assume that people 
will take more advantage of our classes without ever realizing they are 
building win32-only java apps."

However from what I have heard from friends, ASP and IE8/IE9 have made a 
decent job of reasserting standards, including using CSS, HTML5, XML and 
XSLT.Comments from others?


John

-Original Message- 
From: Rohit Gupta
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2011 10:22 AM
To: NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List
Subject: Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

Well thats where half my time goes, getting the things to work on all
browsers - especially the MS ones.  Then there are people still using IE7!!

On 7/06/2011 9:39 a.m., Jolyon Smith wrote:
> My problem isn't "invalid" HTML - it is "perfectly valid HTML but which
> doesn't render the way you expect in browser X, Y Z or perm any N from M".
>
> Ditto Javascript which is perfectly valid but which doesn't work the way 
> you
> expect in browser X, Y, Z or perm any N from M.
>
> Or CSS which is perfectly valid but which doesn't work the way you expect 
> in
> browser X, Y, Z or perm any N from M.
>
> Or some combination of HTML, JavaScript or CSS which doesn't work in that
> particular combo in browser X, Y, Z or perm any N from M.
>
>
> I had thought that these issues might have been resolved at some point in
> the last 20 years, but sadly things really aren't much better today than
> they were then.  In some cases worse, because the tools techniques also
> assume that things have improved, when they haven't... lulling you into a
> false sense of security.


___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe 

___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Rohit Gupta
Well thats where half my time goes, getting the things to work on all 
browsers - especially the MS ones.  Then there are people still using IE7!!

On 7/06/2011 9:39 a.m., Jolyon Smith wrote:
> My problem isn't "invalid" HTML - it is "perfectly valid HTML but which
> doesn't render the way you expect in browser X, Y Z or perm any N from M".
>
> Ditto Javascript which is perfectly valid but which doesn't work the way you
> expect in browser X, Y, Z or perm any N from M.
>
> Or CSS which is perfectly valid but which doesn't work the way you expect in
> browser X, Y, Z or perm any N from M.
>
> Or some combination of HTML, JavaScript or CSS which doesn't work in that
> particular combo in browser X, Y, Z or perm any N from M.
>
>
> I had thought that these issues might have been resolved at some point in
> the last 20 years, but sadly things really aren't much better today than
> they were then.  In some cases worse, because the tools techniques also
> assume that things have improved, when they haven't... lulling you into a
> false sense of security.


___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Phil Scadden

> Ditto Javascript which is perfectly valid but which doesn't work the way you
> expect in browser X, Y, Z or perm any N from M.
  This a major reason to use clientside frameworks like jQuery, Ext etc. 
It centralises the browser dependency issues. You still have the big 
pain of wildly different security models in the browsers.

Me - Java, serverside, javascript client side. Is this too traditional 
these day?

Notice: This email and any attachments are confidential. If received in error 
please destroy and immediately notify us. Do not copy or disclose the contents.

___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Jolyon Smith
My problem isn't "invalid" HTML - it is "perfectly valid HTML but which
doesn't render the way you expect in browser X, Y Z or perm any N from M".

Ditto Javascript which is perfectly valid but which doesn't work the way you
expect in browser X, Y, Z or perm any N from M.

Or CSS which is perfectly valid but which doesn't work the way you expect in
browser X, Y, Z or perm any N from M.

Or some combination of HTML, JavaScript or CSS which doesn't work in that
particular combo in browser X, Y, Z or perm any N from M.


I had thought that these issues might have been resolved at some point in
the last 20 years, but sadly things really aren't much better today than
they were then.  In some cases worse, because the tools techniques also
assume that things have improved, when they haven't... lulling you into a
false sense of security.


-Original Message-
From: delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz [mailto:delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz] On
Behalf Of Berend de Boer
Sent: Tuesday, 7 June 2011 09:23
To: NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List
Subject: Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

>>>>> "Jolyon" == Jolyon Smith  writes:

Jolyon> The question is, what tool do you use to create the code
Jolyon> that ends up emitting it, if you don't emit it directly
Jolyon> yourself ?

There are many techniques but a simple one is using something like
TXMLWriter, see here http://www.berenddeboer.net/delphi


Jolyon> The problem I (personally) have with HTML is that it has
Jolyon> been co-opted into a role for which it was never
Jolyon> originally designed.  It is a document markup language
Jolyon> that has been strong armed into a role as a UI
Jolyon> presentation technology.

In many cases it is far more helpful to really see this as emitting
document markup, with css for styling and javascript for progressive
enhancement.

Don't bring your Delphi habits over, you need to look at HTML
technology very differently.



>> But on the specifics of checking your HTML: check the W3C
>> validator service.

Jolyon> Again, this is "after the fact" debugging.

Jolyon> I don't have to submit my Pascal code to the P3C validator
Jolyon> service to check it's validity.

If you order your win32 calls wrong, what happens then? Where is your
win32 call validator?

But see above, using a tool like TXMLWriter you can make sure you
invalid HTML is detected immediately, although at run-time.

-- 
All the best,

Berend de Boer


  --
  Awesome Drupal hosting: https://www.xplainhosting.com/
___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject:
unsubscribe

___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Berend de Boer
> "Jolyon" == Jolyon Smith  writes:

Jolyon> The question is, what tool do you use to create the code
Jolyon> that ends up emitting it, if you don't emit it directly
Jolyon> yourself ?

There are many techniques but a simple one is using something like
TXMLWriter, see here http://www.berenddeboer.net/delphi


Jolyon> The problem I (personally) have with HTML is that it has
Jolyon> been co-opted into a role for which it was never
Jolyon> originally designed.  It is a document markup language
Jolyon> that has been strong armed into a role as a UI
Jolyon> presentation technology.

In many cases it is far more helpful to really see this as emitting
document markup, with css for styling and javascript for progressive
enhancement.

Don't bring your Delphi habits over, you need to look at HTML
technology very differently.



>> But on the specifics of checking your HTML: check the W3C
>> validator service.

Jolyon> Again, this is "after the fact" debugging.

Jolyon> I don't have to submit my Pascal code to the P3C validator
Jolyon> service to check it's validity.

If you order your win32 calls wrong, what happens then? Where is your
win32 call validator?

But see above, using a tool like TXMLWriter you can make sure you
invalid HTML is detected immediately, although at run-time.

-- 
All the best,

Berend de Boer


  --
  Awesome Drupal hosting: https://www.xplainhosting.com/
___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-06 Thread Jolyon Smith
>> I think you're probably using tools like:
>>
>>  print "hello";

LOL

Well, ultimately anyone "writing" (emitting) HTML is using tools *exactly*
like that.

The question is, what tool do you use to create the code that ends up
emitting it, if you don't emit it directly yourself ?


The problem I (personally) have with HTML is that it has been co-opted into
a role for which it was never originally designed.  It is a document markup
language that has been strong armed into a role as a UI presentation
technology.

It sucks in that capacity and the solution has always been to shimmy some
JavaScript in there on the clientside and pile frameworks and codegen on top
of it on the server side to try and present a development platform that
doesn't suck as much.  The problem this creates of course is that whilst you
are then using the universal and platform independent HTML thereby avoiding
lock-in, you are instead locked into your chosen/adopted framework/codegen
tool.

(Flash/Silverlight/Java work slightly differently of course, presenting an
alternative that exists essentially *inside* the HTML without using HTML
itself - all of these suffer the same problem - platform restrictions.  None
of them have the universality of HTML and also result in "lock-in").


> But on the specifics of checking your HTML: check the W3C validator
> service.

Again, this is "after the fact" debugging.

I don't have to submit my Pascal code to the P3C validator service to check
it's validity.

___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-03 Thread John Bird
I am an outside observer of Web development as I don't personally do it 
either, but interested to find the "best practice tools" to pick up, as its 
such a promising area for the future.   I guess like a lot of Delphi 
programmers, if we are going to pick up web development (and seems to be the 
mainstream for the future) we are naturally biased towards something as 
powerful, great IDE and well designed language as we have been blessed with 
in Delphi.

* Have heard  comments in the past that the best "state of the Art IDE" is 
some of the Java ones (ie better than Visual Studio or Delphi)

* Haven't seen anyone comment on Ruby yet

* Web development is certainly an area where the open source and free tools 
are often equal to or ahead of the commercial tools

* Open source tools starting with HTML editing like Kompozer are often well 
integrated with W3C standards (including validating HTML code).   The W3C 
site is an excellent starting reference for good standards.

* Waiting for comments from people like Gary B and others who have done very 
comprehensive PHP projects, for which there are very extensive frameworks 
out there.   They seem to be able to turn out large systems with ease and 
speed of development comparable to Delphi, including excellent controls, 
Ajax, web commerce and ordering modules, and of course as good integration 
with Firebird as Delphi has.

* I had the impression that the various extensions to Firefox (Firebug, 
Greasemonkey, Javascript viewers, error console etc) have generally been 
thought to be the best tools for web developers in browsers.  Don't know 
much as don't personally use these much, but being involved on the Firefox 
development forum I know they are redoing these tools constantly - the View 
HTML Source etc are getting makeovers at the moment.   Latest Firefox is a 
joy to use btw (V7.0a1 alpha nightly build - yes its 3 versions ahead). 
All the latest browsers (ie9, Firefox, Opera, Chrome) seem to be rewriting 
the state of the art constantly which is a great thing.

John


> "Jolyon" == Jolyon Smith  writes:

Jolyon> "Inspect Element" is good for seeing what HTML you or your
Jolyon> framework has spat out, but it doesn't help you spit out
Jolyon> the right HTML in the first place.

I think you're probably using tools like:

  print "hello";

to write your HTML :-)

But on the specifics of checking your HTML: check the W3C validator
service. Install Pendule if you're using chrome and such checks are
just a click away.

-- 
All the best,

Berend de Boer


  --
  Awesome Drupal hosting: https://www.xplainhosting.com/
___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe 

___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-03 Thread Berend de Boer
> "Jolyon" == Jolyon Smith  writes:

Jolyon> "Inspect Element" is good for seeing what HTML you or your
Jolyon> framework has spat out, but it doesn't help you spit out
Jolyon> the right HTML in the first place.

I think you're probably using tools like:

  print "hello";

to write your HTML :-)

But on the specifics of checking your HTML: check the W3C validator
service. Install Pendule if you're using chrome and such checks are
just a click away.

-- 
All the best,

Berend de Boer


  --
  Awesome Drupal hosting: https://www.xplainhosting.com/
___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: 
unsubscribe


Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-03 Thread Jolyon Smith
No, I use Chrome+ (not Google Chrome, but the proper one).

The "tools" I was referring to were the design and coding tools which are
like going back 20 years in terms of development practices, cos the only way
to know if your "code" works is to "run it", and if it doesn't work you
can't "step thru" your HTML/CSS to see why things aren't aligned correctly
or working how you (or the standards) expect things to.

That of course is true of all "declarative programming" languages.

"Inspect Element" is good for seeing what HTML you or your framework has
spat out, but it doesn't help you spit out the right HTML in the first
place.


-Original Message-
From: delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz [mailto:delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz] On
Behalf Of Stefan Mueller
Sent: Friday, 3 June 2011 23:49
To: 'NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List'
Subject: [DUG] FW: Web development

I guess Jolon is still using MSIE, right? .. The developer tools that are
built into Google Chrome browser for example are quite good for debugging
HTML/CSS(and even JavaScript). Just right click on the elements whose markup
you want to see and say "inspect" and it will show you all the code and css
applied to the element with a nice little editor that allows you to play
with and modify each property on the fly. Also, developer tools such as MS
Visual Studio (I am doing mostly ASP.NET MVC stuff lately) aren't too bad
either with features such as autocomplete/autolookups/warnings for
non-closed html-tags and invalid markup/attributes, etc  that makes
writing valid HTML/CSS pretty easy. 

As for other opinions on this whole website development talk: I definitely
would stay away from writing websites in Delphi. It might be ok to use if
all you need is a small quick and dirty inhouse webapp or prototype .. but
what you gain in familiarity by using Delphi is quickly offset by
disadvantages. PHP/.NET/RoR have huge communities of developers - if you
have a problem or need some example code/library then just google for it and
you will most likely find something - whereas for Delphi it's mostly up to
you to figure it out  and then there is the thing about maintenance if
you leave the company, will they still be able to find a Delphi developer to
maintain and lock after the website?). I think it's better to go with more
popular web development languages. 

Personally I am really happy developing with the ASP.NET MVC framework.
Never really liked traditional ASP.NET WebForms (viewstate is just such a
bloat and if you try to AJAX'ify the website things can quickly become very
complicated and badly performing) - The new ASP.NET MVC on the other hand is
absolutly fantastic in this regard and a joy to work with - the seperation
of Data/GUI/Logic  (MVC development pattern) is much better and more modular
then the intermingled mess ASP.NET WebForms was. 

I also heard a lot of good about Ruby on Rails. As far as development goes
it sounds easy and fast - but seems to have a bit of scaling problems (if
your projects require that, most don't). 

PHP is probably the most popular web-language, but never really got to like
it. I don't like "weakly typed" script languages that just break during
execution ... I like my code to be compiled and raise errors during
compilation time if I made some mistake - makes developing/changing existing
code/database tables so much easier and less error prone if you have
everything "strong typed".   ASP.NET also has a couple of goodies that I
probably would miss a lot in PHP  - like, automatic XSS injection
prevention, URL-Rewriting, Localisation, Authorization (user login, roles,
etc), HttpModules that allow you to plug directly into the web execution
pipeline of the IIS webserver, etc. ... I think the ASP.NET framework makes
writing secure and high performing websites a lot easier then PHP does.
 
 
Regards,
Stefan 
 


-Original Message-
From: delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz [mailto:delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz] On
Behalf Of Berend de Boer
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 6:44 PM
To: NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List
Subject: Re: [DUG] Web development

> "Jolyon" == Jolyon Smith  writes:

Jolyon> but in the end got fed up with wrestling with HTML and CSS
Jolyon> - working with those technologies is like stepping back in
Jolyon> time in terms to tools and "debugging" etc, 

Really I would say that the available tools and capabilities are light
years beyond what's offered.

And we're not even talking about the ease with which you create very nice
interfaces, which would be impossible to create any other way.

--
All the best,

Berend de Boer


  --
  Awesome Drupal hosting: https://www.xplainhosting.com/
___
NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list
Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz
Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi
Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@del

Re: [DUG] FW: Web development

2011-06-03 Thread Colin Fraser
We have moved some of our stuff to Java, and are quite happy so far.

In terms of rapid development (in the Java world), there are things like Spring 
Roo and Seam Forge, the latter being the newest and least documented...

I have had a little look, but nothing serious so can't really comment that much 
(other than, it looks good, but then so do so many things until you did a bit 
deeper).

In terms of wanting to stay away from HTML, CSS, etc, then there is Vaadin or 
even GWT (both Java related... we are playing with Vaadin at the moment).

The thing with Java is there are so many frameworks and so many options it is 
easy to go around in circles trying to pick (what you think is) the best one.

What we have used in a real project is JSF using Facelets and a little bit of 
Seam... there is a learning curve, but it is not too bad (we have not delved 
into Java EE, just using Tomcat).

The Java IDE's are also really great, we have settled on Eclipse, but you will 
find passionate battles about that, as well as for the frameworks.

Anyway, just thought I would through that in from left field...

Happy hunting.

Regards
Colin

On 3/06/2011, at 11:49 PM, Stefan Mueller wrote:

> I guess Jolon is still using MSIE, right? .. The developer tools that are
> built into Google Chrome browser for example are quite good for debugging
> HTML/CSS(and even JavaScript). Just right click on the elements whose markup
> you want to see and say "inspect" and it will show you all the code and css
> applied to the element with a nice little editor that allows you to play
> with and modify each property on the fly. Also, developer tools such as MS
> Visual Studio (I am doing mostly ASP.NET MVC stuff lately) aren't too bad
> either with features such as autocomplete/autolookups/warnings for
> non-closed html-tags and invalid markup/attributes, etc  that makes
> writing valid HTML/CSS pretty easy. 
> 
> As for other opinions on this whole website development talk: I definitely
> would stay away from writing websites in Delphi. It might be ok to use if
> all you need is a small quick and dirty inhouse webapp or prototype .. but
> what you gain in familiarity by using Delphi is quickly offset by
> disadvantages. PHP/.NET/RoR have huge communities of developers - if you
> have a problem or need some example code/library then just google for it and
> you will most likely find something - whereas for Delphi it's mostly up to
> you to figure it out  and then there is the thing about maintenance if
> you leave the company, will they still be able to find a Delphi developer to
> maintain and lock after the website?). I think it's better to go with more
> popular web development languages. 
> 
> Personally I am really happy developing with the ASP.NET MVC framework.
> Never really liked traditional ASP.NET WebForms (viewstate is just such a
> bloat and if you try to AJAX'ify the website things can quickly become very
> complicated and badly performing) - The new ASP.NET MVC on the other hand is
> absolutly fantastic in this regard and a joy to work with - the seperation
> of Data/GUI/Logic  (MVC development pattern) is much better and more modular
> then the intermingled mess ASP.NET WebForms was. 
> 
> I also heard a lot of good about Ruby on Rails. As far as development goes
> it sounds easy and fast - but seems to have a bit of scaling problems (if
> your projects require that, most don't). 
> 
> PHP is probably the most popular web-language, but never really got to like
> it. I don't like "weakly typed" script languages that just break during
> execution ... I like my code to be compiled and raise errors during
> compilation time if I made some mistake - makes developing/changing existing
> code/database tables so much easier and less error prone if you have
> everything "strong typed".   ASP.NET also has a couple of goodies that I
> probably would miss a lot in PHP  - like, automatic XSS injection
> prevention, URL-Rewriting, Localisation, Authorization (user login, roles,
> etc), HttpModules that allow you to plug directly into the web execution
> pipeline of the IIS webserver, etc. ... I think the ASP.NET framework makes
> writing secure and high performing websites a lot easier then PHP does.
> 
> 
> Regards,
> Stefan 
>  
> 
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz [mailto:delphi-boun...@delphi.org.nz] On
> Behalf Of Berend de Boer
> Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 6:44 PM
> To: NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi List
> Subject: Re: [DUG] Web development
> 
>> "Jolyon" == Jolyon Smith  writes:
> 
>Jolyon> but in the end got fed up with wrestling with HTML and CSS
>Jolyon> - working with those technologies is like stepping back in
>Jolyon> time in terms to tools and "debugging" etc, 
> 
> Really I would say that the available tools and capabilities are light
> years beyond what's offered.
> 
> And we're not even talking about the ease with which you create very nice
> interf