Connection Café: Internet Soup

	Internet Soup
	Posted by Noah Cooper at Jun 16, 2011 03:36 PM CDT Categories: Technology

Years ago, my dear friend Jack Shepherd (not to be confused with that other guy) came up with the idea for a clever little recurring blog series titled "Internet Soup". Since he long ago stopped writing the aforementioned blog series, and since he's responsible for me not having a passport anymore, I figure it's OK for me to plagiarize his work.

So, here are some things from around the internet that I found interesting, and I think you might too!

Be forewarned that my soup has a lot less cute animal pictures and a lot more techie jargon.

Earlier this month, Google announced that it will stop supporting older browsers like Internet Explorer 6 and 7 come August 1. I'm personally ecstatic following this announcement — the fact is that catering to users of a web browser older than the Nintendo GameCube (seriously) does nothing but limit innovation. HTML5 is no longer the futuristic sci-fi technology it once seemed. It's time we all start playing with <canvas> tags and stop worrying about making transparent images display for 5% of users still stuck in 2001. The next time you find something wrong in IE6, I encourage you to look the other way, and spend the time you would've spent worrying about that 5% thinking about your mobile strategy.
Speaking of mobile, I just picked up a copy of the new book "Responsive Web Design" from A Book Apart. The book describes a methodology for "thinking beyond the desktop" and designing content that is device agnostic. I highly recommend it, whether you're just getting into the wide world of mobile or you consider yourself an expert. I prefer something I can hold in my hands, but it's also available in ebook format if that's your thing. If you want to wet your pallete, check out the excerpt available on A Book Apart's site.
The folks at Families USA just launched an exciting new tool called Tweet Your Legislators that allows its advocates to sign a petition via Twitter. The Affordable Care Act petition integrates with act.ly, and includes almost 2,000 elected officials who are on Twitter, from U.S. senators and representatives to governors, attorneys general, and state senators and reps. I had a similar idea a few years back, so I'm glad to see organizations taking social advocacy to the next level!
I've often said that I have a love/hate relationship with JavaScript. That statement has made me somewhat of a magnet for questions about JS. Clients and colleagues have often asked me for advice on where to go to learn more about JavaScript. As is the case with most things web development, my defacto answer is W3Schools. Thanks to my co-worker Eric I now have another extremely helpful resource to add to the list - a blog entry from iFadey titled "Javascript Mistakes You Must Avoid". The post includes some really useful information for anyone who's new to JavaScript on producing performant web applications.