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Lessons for uncultured web developers

troyhunt.com

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Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#2

Post by Tichy »

Why is nobody using the ISO format for dates? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601 yyyy-mm-dd? Another benefit is that it sorts correctly in the file explorers (I used to name my photo folders like that...).

Coming from a country where we typically do dd/mm I can never remember what the English standard is. I've taken to always writing the name of the month to be sure.

Also, can the huge lead of the iPhone still be true? I thought Android was outselling the iPhone by now. But perhaps the low end Android buyers don't really surf?

Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#3

Post by theootz »

Tichy wrote: post #2

Why is nobody using the ISO format for dates? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601 yyyy-mm-dd? Another benefit is that it sorts correctly in the file explorers (I used to name my photo folders like that...). Coming from a country where we typically do dd/mm I can never remember what the English standard is. I've taken to always writing the name of the month to be sure. Also, can the huge lead of the iPhone still be…

I personally love using the ISO format as well.

As for the iPhone vs Android thing, the graph used by OP is a bit misleading (it's restricted to AUS only). I'd take a look at these ones instead: http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-ww-monthly-201108-... or http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_os-ww-monthly-201108-20120... for worldwide.

I guess he's trying to highlight how it's different in different places around the world though.

Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#4

Post by marme »

Qihoo’s 360 browser is not a full browser it behaves like an addon to IE. It will use the IE kernel of whatever version is installed on the users machine. So if the user still has IE6 it will render pages with the IE6 kernel. You dont really need to pay attention to it as a web developer you just need to know that if it the page displays correctly in IE6 then it should display correctly for a user Qihoo’s 360 browser that uses IE6 kernel

Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#6

Post by fredley »

Tichy wrote: post #2

Why is nobody using the ISO format for dates? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601 yyyy-mm-dd? Another benefit is that it sorts correctly in the file explorers (I used to name my photo folders like that...). Coming from a country where we typically do dd/mm I can never remember what the English standard is. I've taken to always writing the name of the month to be sure. Also, can the huge lead of the iPhone still be…

Because it's a format rarely used outside of an engineering context. If your users are 100% from a technical background, and always will be, fine. Otherwise, a lot of your users will find it difficult to parse dates in this format.

Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#7

Post by k-mcgrady »

Good list, and interesting how at least half of the points are about localisation/internationalization. The date point was good I find that one very annoying. The easiest way to work it out on forums is usually to look at the previous post and see what number goes down (day).

I didn't realise the mm/dd format was only officially used in two countries. I've never understood why it's use at all, it makes much more sense going from day-month-year. Is there a reason mm/dd was chosen in the US and Belize?

Re: Lessons for uncultured web developers

#8

Post by fredley »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #7

Good list, and interesting how at least half of the points are about localisation/internationalization. The date point was good I find that one very annoying. The easiest way to work it out on forums is usually to look at the previous post and see what number goes down (day). I didn't realise the mm/dd format was only officially used in two countries. I've never understood why it's use at all, it makes much more sens…

As with most internationalization problems, blame the British. We used this middle-endian format around the time we colonised North America (I guess it does kind of make sense when you're reading aloud). The USA standardised on it, whereas most of the rest of the world (including Britain) moved on to a more logical format.

See also: power plugs. The British came up with a new British Standard plug seemingly every few years, and all the places we colonised use a different British Standard. We are the reason you need to spend $20 on a universal power adapter with 10 different attachments.

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