XFN is starting to build some momentum, but I haven’t really bought into the concept for use on this site. Who knows, maybe in the next version… What I do like is proposed method — XMDP — for marking up profiles though.

Another high-buzz technology right now — delicious — does look intriguing, but it’s something I’ll need to explore a bit more to see how usefully it really might be.

One technology that has become nearly ubiquitous on most content Web sites — RSS — apparently isn’t offered by the CBC, although they do offer free headlines. Maybe it will offer a version in Atom? (Thanks, David.)

If you are still using IE for Web development (you really should switch), you should download the Accessibility Toolbar. The enhancements it offers include:

• Validation for HTML, CSS, and P3P;
• browser resizing;
• and style tools (turn off CSS, edit CSS).

(Thanks, MikeyC.)

A popular meme around this season (and on long-weekends) is the belief the gas companies conspire to hike prices at their stations. The idea has a lot of going for it, but the market is where motorist should direct their wrath.

So, 2003 is almost over, and:

• Zeldman redesigns,
• Whitespace looks ahead to 2004,
• Asterisk looks back over the recent past,
• and Jakob expounds on this year’s design mistakes. (Criticize his decrees as you will, but if you look at he’s first two editions [from 1996 and 1999], you’ll notice these underlying problems generally don’t exist anymore. Issues in his 2002 edition are still found, but there has been improvement. Over the years, has Web design advances, his critiques have become much more granular but they are still worth considering.)
• Meanwhile, the differences between us and them grow more apparent. (After writing, this I realized it sounds unintentionally anti-American; the items just illustrate a widening gulf between our two cultures — cultures once thought here to be too close.)
• Finally, this will be my last post for about a week, so have a safe and happy holiday!