Here is a little JavaScript function that gets an object according to it’s id and it’s cross browser.
/*********************************************************************
* Get an object, this function is cross browser
* Usage:
* var object = get_object(element_id);
* @Author Hamid Alipour http://blog.code-head.com/
**/
function get_object(id) {
var object = null;
if (document.layers) {
object = document.layers[id];
} else if (document.all) {
object = document.all[id];
} else if (document.getElementById) {
object = document.getElementById(id);
}
return object;
}
/*********************************************************************/
You might know already that there are some issues with transparent GIFs but PNGs don’t have those issues.
The problem with transparent PNGs is that Internet Explorer doesn’t like them so much and gives them a funny background.
So here is the solution that works great:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bobosola/index.htm
How to fix transparent PNGs in Internet Explorer
A while back, I wrote two posts about Microsoft and I wrote them when I was upset so it might have offended people.
To be honest with you, I was a fan of Microsoft and their products up until Internet Explorer 7 came along.
I installed it on two computers and I had to disable all the addons other than the essentials in order to make them run smoothly and without so much issues.
Right now, my Internet Explorer process grows until it’s 1GB in size!!! and it then gets so slow or crashes and I loose all my open tabs and what ever I was doing.
It also crashed every once in a while for some reason and it’s still not standard compliant.
About Windows Vista; we also bought four computers with Vista and every single one, without an exception had issues right out of the box, big issues that I think Microsoft should have known about but shipped the product anyway.
Honestly, this is disappointing for me, because I liked Windows and it’s openness and the ability for everyone to write great applications for it and it’s huge documentation on Microsoft website.
I also think that Microsoft contributed a lot to the industry and I hope that this is not the end of it.
I’m a software developer and I don’t consider myself to be the best one but I know one thing, we don’t EVER ship until we fix all the obvious bugs, if we did, we wouldn’t have any clients right now.
Good Luck 
My problem with Microsoft and their products
On this page:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/default.mspx
It says “See how it helps to protect you from viruses, spyware, and other risks, plus more easily find the information you need.”.
Do you know how? It’s a virus itself!
Just kidding
Internet Explorer 7 and viruses
It turns out that it’s Google toolbar, try uninstalling it and you will see the difference.
I tried installing the latest version of Google toolbar but it didn’t really make much difference.
It made some difference when I disabled some buttons on the toolbar though, such as bookmarks.
My buttons are now: news, pop up blocker, PageRank, spell checker and Autofill.
Probably some of these buttons try to contact some server for some reason when you open a new tab and it makes everything slow.
IE 7 tabs are slow, I know why now
Acid test is a test to identify problems web browsers have when rendering web pages.
There are 3 versions Acid Test 1, 2 and 3.
Acid2 should look like this:
But here is how Acid Test 2 works on my different browsers:
Google Chrome:
Firefox:
Opera:
Safari:
Retarded Internet Explorer 7:
!!!
Now, none of my browsers passed Acid Test 3!!!
It should look like this:
Google Chrome:
Firefox:
Opera:
Safari:
Retarded Internet Explorer 7:
Of all the browsers, all perform almost the same but only Internet Explorer is way off, I don’t know what the developer team who is in charge of Internet Explorer does at Microsoft every day. I’d say all of them deserve to be fired!!!
Of all the other browsers, I think Apple Webkit rendering engine is the best (Google Chrome and Apple Safari) which I think is another reason for Google to use it in their browser Chrome.
Apple Webkit is a state of the art and open source HTML rendering engine developed and released by Apple.
Here are the links to these tests:
Acid2
Acid3
Acid Test and different web browsers
1 – It was extremely easy to install.
2 – It looks like a solid product.
3 – It doesn’t crash like IE 8.
4 – It’s fast.
5 – It’s very smooth.
6 – Has spell checking built in. (Just right click on the words that are underlined…)
7 – It’s very simple and elegant looking.
8 – Has nice new JavaScript engine V8.
9 – Has a nice JavaScript console and debugger.
10 – It doesn’t take 3 seconds (15 million instruction) to open a new tab.
11 – When you right click on a link it says “Copy link address” not “Copy shortcut” 
I’m using Google Chrome to write this and it might be the end of IE horror for me (and yes I don’t like Firefox…)
I also noticed that Cnet news wrote this funny article:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10030522-2.html
In case the author doesn’t know (which I think they should, before they write for Cnet) that is Google’s general terms of services and applies to all of their products including Gmail:
https://www.google.com/accounts/TOS?loc=US&hl=en
My first impressions of Google Chrome
Now you can download a beta version here:
http://www.google.com/chrome/
I make web pages so I have to have all the possible browsers installed so I can check the pages I code in all of them and make sure they look the same.
So far I have Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 6, Firefox, Opera, Safari and now Google Chrome!
It was a really easy and smooth installation and it even automatically imported my favourites from Internet Explorer.
Google Chrome; another browser for your browser arsenal!
Yes, many people did and they are complaining.
It’s a beta product and it’s not meant to be for users. You can safely (well…) upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 when it’s not beta anymore.
It has so many issues, Internet Explorer 7 has so many problems already and I can’t imagine what sort of issues Internet Explorer 8 “Beta” has…
Here are some stories:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10028458-75.html
The definition of beta software:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle#Beta
Beta software is for users who want to participate in testing an unfinished product.
Don’t upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 beta, yet
Back To Top
Back To Previous Page
Author Bio
Hamid Alipour is a partner in Codehead, LLP with his wife, Tess. Hamid speaks 12 markup and programming languages [Yes, 12: PHP, CSS, Ajax, JavaScript, HTML/XHTML, Java, Python, C/C++, ASP, Visual Basic, Scheme and Action Script]; has a penchant for solving the unsolvable; an affinity for clean, hand-written code and is a Zend Certified 
Services
Blog
Tools
About
Contact
Blog Home