It’s been quite a while since I’ve gotten a few things off of my chest and since I’m always full of peeves and annoyances I thought it was time to unleash:

• Who loses in the browser wars? Developers. Designers. Users. I hope the browser development teams are having fun though…
• Learning jQuery made me love MooTools even more. Go figure.
• For those of you that have loads of trouble with your javascript: maybe you need to start looking at your CSS?

With another year coming to a close, it’s time to look toward the near future. The following are my predictions for the web in 2010.

Twitter will steal a bit of Google’s search thunder.

Twitter challenge Google search? You bet. The advantage twitter has over Google search is that Twitter provides almost to-the-second search results so if you want the most recent content, you can hit Twitter. While Google analyzes static content, Twitter provides you the “buzz”, or most recently/frequently talked about links/information in a condensed format. Sometimes fewer options and information is a good thing.

Dear Webmaster,

It’s been over a year since I last wrote. Business is booming for me which reminded me to get in touch with you again. I’m shocked at the advancements you’ve made!

Wow — you’ve gotten acquainted with javascript frameworks! In fact, it appears you’ve gotten so good with the popular javascript frameworks that you’re using multiple in each of your client websites. I see jQuery, MooTools, and Dojo in the same page! Good idea — the more frameworks you add to the page, the more plugins you can add without needing to code any javascript yourself. Well thought-out. I also see that you’re adding javascript frameworks for simple getElementById() selection — why not? I’m sure you’ll use more advanced javascript on your client’s website at some point, so best to include the libraries now.

This will probably shock you but I’m a programmer. Not a designer, not a copywriter, just a simple programmer. I’ve done some self analysis and realized that becoming a programmer wasn’t a choice — it was destiny. The following is my logic for why I became a programmer.

1. I’m Allergic to the Sun

I’m not as hot as Kate Beckinsale but I’m just as allergic to the sun as she was in Underworld. The second I see the sun I sneeze. What’s odd is that I used to play outside endlessly as a child — it wasn’t until I became a programmer that I developed this strange allergy to the sun. Today my skin is very white — a monitor tan is the only tan I get these days.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve gotten a few things off of my chest and since I’m always full of peeves and annoyances I thought it was time to unleash:

• Remember when CSS was replacing javascript functions like “onmouseover” image swapping in navigation? Now we’re using javascript to make up for CSS’ weaknesses. Of course a lot of the blame goes to IE6 for that but I am disappointed CSS isn’t advancing faster.