Browser sniffing is generally frown upon, but there's a massive gorilla in the room: Internet Explorer. While needing JavaScript workarounds specifically for IE are far rarer than CSS, I still find myself needing to use different code for IE - when animating PNG-24s, for instance. Most of us (at least, those of us using jQuery) have grown accustomed to using jQuery.browser for this purpose - even if we know it's not the best practice.
I've seen a couple variations of Paul Irish's solution to target styles to versions of Internet Explorer and found them all lacking in one critical aspect: the ability to target IEs less than or equal to a given version number.
Lately, I've been spending a good deal of time evaluating résumés, poring over code samples, and interviewing potential candidates for front-end web development jobs. There is a huge variety of skill, experience, and craftsmanship out there. Most of what gets to my inbox ends up being mediocre, some of it is awful, a small subset is good.
I’ve been working on a little JavaScript library, which I’m calling jsBASE. It provides two independent pieces of functionality. First, it loads a queue of scripts asynchronously to prevent blocking. And second, it acts as a runner – executing functionality based on a manifest.