UPDATE 2: Would you believe I’m trying to fix all this while builders are fixing a broken pipe that’s flooded my flat?

UPDATE: PooterGeek now looks strange to all of you. I hope normal service will be resumed soon.

It has come to my attention that PooterGeek suddenly looks strange to those of you reading it through a Microsoft Internet Explorer window, rather than via a proper Web browser like Mozilla or Firefox. Specifically, the sidebar on the right, containing the search box, latest comment roll, and links, has slipped down to the bottom of the page. Even though it isn’t my fault, I’d like to apologise—not only for that, but for the traumatic upgrade process that we are all going to have to live through over the next couple of days to fix it. Do not fear, my people, but do brace yourself for some strange effects.

Over the weekend I spent a lot of time wrestling with the design of another Website I am working on. Apart from the boring geek work, darlings, I had to make aesthetic compromises. Why? Because Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) fails to operate according to published and agreed Web standards. We don’t have any choice because Microsoft does its best to keep PC-users lazy and ignorant. The company does it so effectively that customers often don’t even realise they did have a choice. Worse, many Webmasters (not always by their own choice) force their visitors to use IE. For all these reasons Explorer is the most popular Web browser, despite being one of the most insecure, and everyone in the business has to make allowances for it. I hate it.

[“Bum-head”, incidentally, was kindly donated to me by a friend and I am using it as my word-of-the-day. Please feel free to deploy it yourself at work today: while cross-examining a witness in court, at a board meeting, or following a crucial question on a ward round.]