New Media Fun

Having fun in an online world

Archive for July, 2009

Parsing XML with jQuery in Internet Explorer

Posted by admin under HTML

The other day I was working on a jQuery browser app that builds a glossary from an XML file. This particular app requires running off a hard drive or a CD in Internet Explorer 6 (Ya, I know. The facility has computer limitations in place).

Everything was going fine until I realized that the XML wasn’t being parsed properly in Internet Explorer (all versions) off of the hard drive. There was no problems when working via a network connection.

Here is the code I was using to parse the XML before I realized the problem:

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$.get('xml/myXML.xml', {}, function(xml){
 // parse the XML
}

After some investigation, I discovered there is some security settings in IE that prevents data being parsed directly off of the hard drive. So I had to re-work how I parsed the XML:

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$.ajax({
 url: 'xml/myXML.xml',
 dataType: ($.browser.msie) ? "text" : "xml",
 timeout: 1000,
 error: function(data){
  alert('Error occurred loading the XML');
 },
 success: function(data){
  var xml;
  if (typeof data == "string") {
   xml = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
   xml.async = false;
   xml.loadXML(data);
  } else {
   xml = data;
  }
 // parse the xml
});

What happens is that the XML gets loaded into IE as a text object, then gets converted into usable XML data. Any other browsers get the XML data directly.

So many small little things that you have to go through because of the browser wars. I wish Internet Explorer would just disappear sometimes.

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Telepresence Experience

Posted by admin under Education, General, Internet

This afternoon I attended a presentation to show off a telepresence system to let NorQuest college staff communicate between campus’.

The set up is a pc, high def video camera, LCD TV and light. The system delivers the video over alberta’s supernet network at 6 mbps!

The draw back is the cost. To set up to rooms on the basic system is close to $65,000! That doesn’t include setting up the rooms, audio design and designing the rooms to look the same on both sides.

Over all a really neat technology with a lot of potential. Check out the photos below:

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Browsers Browsers Browsers

Posted by admin under Internet


Every web designer knows that every browser will cause havoc over their slaved over web design in one way or another. Cells have funny padding, div’s not where they are suppose to be and many more little nuances.

Unfortunately, not every browser is equal and the browser wars are here to stay. With different versions, different rendering engines and different ways to display the same thing. Not since the days of Netscape verses Internet Explorer has there been so many choices for users to surf the internet with. To name a few:

  • Internet Explorer 5.5, 6, 7, 8
  • Firefox 3, 3.5
  • Opera 9, 10
  • Chrome 1, 2
  • Safari 3, 4

So what is a web designer to do? Well the are a couple ways to go about testing web designs:

Server side solutions - great if you are looking for screen shots of your design on multiple platforms and browsers.  However these services can be very slow and you are not able to interact with the designs. Check out Browser Shots.

Software solutions - probably the easiest and best way to test your designs and functionality on multiple browsers.  On my PC I work with;

  • Firefox 3.5
  • Chrome 2
  • Safari 4
  • Opera 10
  • Internet Explore 5.5, 6, 7, & 8*

The downside is that I run the most current of browsers aside from the Internet Explore browsers.  Plus, I am unable to test on different computer platforms from Macs, PCs, Linux, old or new.

Future solutions – Adobe labs now is working on Browser Lab, which will allow web designers the ability to test the design against a wide variety of browsers.  It is currently under a limited release and I am looking forward to a opportunity to try the Browser Lab out.

* Running Multiple Internet Explorer browsers on one PC

A couple years ago I came across a great application that allows me to install and work with multiple versions of Internet Explorer. The program is called Multiple IEs. It is a free program that works in Windows.  With this application I can test my design/code against IE 3, 4, 5, 5.5, & 6.

Since Internet Explorer 8 came out, the same developer has created another application to run a standalone Internet Explorer 7.

What solutions do you use to test your web designs?

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Back to Blogging in a Brand New Way

Posted by admin under General

Well it has been close to 2 years since I stopped blogging on my old website; My Retirement Project dot com. The site worked great and it was a fantastic way to learn the blogging eco-system.

This time will be very different for me. Instead of a blogging in a world of link baiting, paid revues and trying to make a money through blogging. I am making a complete change in my blogging practices. New Media Fun is primarily for my professional development in multimedia, web design and technology. It exists primarily as a method to communicate my ideas, passions and fun stuff I come across in a professional or personal capacity.

So strap in, subscribe to the RSS feed and come back regularly. It should be fun. ;)

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