Freeday 26 March 1999

Pic of the day: Soap? SOAP? Whoever needs soap anyway?

It's been a grey, rainy, foggy day. And I've been to the dentist. No cavities! I've naturally celebrated this with a wide selection of chocolates.

You have probably noticed that MicroSoft, the company that saved us from the dominance of first IBM and then Netscape, have graced us with yet another version of their browser, Internet Explorer 5. But you may not be aware that the technological leader in the browser race has also a new and much smaller download waiting for you: Opera 3.6!
Yes, that's right. The Web Browser that was made for you (at least if you have a more than 6 months old machine or a dial-up connection) has produced yet another stable beta, this time of 3.6. I find the new version of the hotlist icon too distracting, but luckily all such things can be replaced. Perhaps you prefer the Wheel-of-Time theme buttons?
I still have a small install of IE4 on my disk, it is superior for online game sites and others that are dedicated to Microsoft's "improved" HTML. But most days of the week, speed and ease of use wins out, so I stay in Opera all day long. One particular bonus of Opera is the easy scaling of text and pictures right there from the corner of the screen. Useful when someone has "optimized" their site for a particular screen resolution which is not the one I use at the moment. (This, in my mind, translates as "Whee, I've learned a new HTML trick that I don't quite manage to get right yet, but I must show off!")

The other day I considered applying for a job, then I saw the company's homepage and saw that their text ran way out to the right, requiring a lot of scrolling. Needless to say, I left it without even a bookmark. Hint of the day: If you can't get it right, at least keep it simple!

I've waited with the link to Opera Software because I guess when you go there, you may forget to come back today. Good surfing!