Fun with IE7

Okay, this will be a super-boring post for those uninterested in making stuff work on IE7 (that's all of us, then).

On the left is a rather dull little form for entering an address. It is a cutdown version of an Asp.Net detailsView, which is why it is in table format (don't shoot me!). I set the size of the input field to 90% of available space, otherwise I get a short field. The whole table sits in a half-width column (may or may not be significant).

This is IE7's take on the same code (Opera and Chrome both looked like Firefox). As you can see, the font is too big, there are no borders and the input fields are shoved way over to the right. Aaargh! I'm trying to create a Content Management System and yes, most folks use IE7.

Inside my <!--[if IE]> brackets I had to make several changes.

• font-size:small;
• .detailView td, .detailView th, .detailView{
              border:1px solid black;
          }
• input{
              width:20em;
          }
• .commandRow input{
              width:80px;
          }

The font-size, well, whatever works. The border had to be set manually because, at detailView is an asp widget, I get little choice over the border (which is set to "1" in any case). I set the input to 20em, which is crap, because it doesn't fill the space. If I make it any bigger, it crowds out the label. And of course, I had to reset the size of the command buttons, or they'd be 20 ems as well.

This is the result. It's ok but not gorgeous. And it is only for adding things to a database.

Annoying, eh?

Recent trip to Berlin

Thought I'd better scribble down something about last weekend's trip to Berlin, since I found myself buried in a thriller I bought in Hugendubel, Berlin's answer to Waterstones. Staff there very friendly. I homed in on one and asked her to recommend German Science Fiction writers. Nothing really appealed, so I ended up on the "Krimi" pile, picking out "Tannöd" by Andrea Maria Schenkel. Great stuff, several narrators but all pretty straightforward people, or I'd be lost. Lovely to read Bavarian voices, which sound so much like Austrian ones and remind me of the year I spent in Kärnten in my twenties.

I've included a picture of surely the best ice cream (sorbet, actually) in Berlin. Eismaufaktur. For my talent at reading detective stories and other intellectually undemanding books to flower most fully, it has to be in a good cafe. How could it be otherwise?

The second picture is from a gallery I like very much near the spanking new Hauptbahnhof. Confusingly, the gallery is called Hamburgerbahnhof but has been converted, like the Gare d'Orsay in Paris. You can't really resist Anselm Kiefer's plane made of soft lead, can you? No doubt it means something serious but I think it is cute. I found myself in the position of having to explain Joseph Beuys obsessions with fat and felt to my friend Lesley, when I have limited sympathy with him myself. She seemed to like him, which is something.

I felt totally at home in Berlin (don't say it's because I have spent most of my adult life in flat landscapes!) and it is soooo tempting to try and find a job there.

I also discovered I love white Rioja, though I only had one glass. Gorgeous.