Here I am again, stuck in IE7 hell. It struck me today, while I’m sitting here hacking up my layout’s css to accommodate the vagaries of IE7, that working on a layout is a lot like driving a car. There’s a lot of things you have to learn first to keep yourself from being a hazard to other drivers, but once you get the hang of it, those things all become second nature.

Designing for the better browsers, Firefox, Safari, etc., is like driving down a mostly deserted highway in Wyoming. Fast, smooth, straight-forward, easy to find yourself doing 100mph with the radio blasting while the scenery around you flies by (not that I’d know anything about doing that *shifty look*).

Most of the time, IE8 is the same. You may occasionally have to change lanes or slow down a little, but it’s easy to see those problems coming and just build in solutions from the start.

Now imagine you are asked to plot a route across the country that involves no highways, no stop lights and no stop signs. You have one hour to plot this route. Then you must drive it. From memory.

That’s what working with Internet Explorer 7 is like.