Like it or not, MS Internet Explorer is still the most used browser in the world. The reason for this is MS Windows XP/Vista. IE is bundled with every copy of Windows. Now we have two major IE version:

1. Internet Explorer 6 [IE6]
2. Internet Explorer 7 [IE7]

I will show you what optimizations I needed to add to Starscape to make the theme more compliant with IE6/IE7. Maybe you can use some of this optimizations in developing your own themes.

As for the standard compliance, IE7 is much better, and it’s much easier to make optimizations so theme will work in IE7 as it should. One of the most important improvement for design point of view is full PNG transparency support.
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Well, the work on new Starscape engine takes more time then anticipated. I was ill for a few days, unable to work, but now things are getting together. Nova engine turns to be more complicated to create, but much simpler then default classic Starscape engine.

As you can see, there are no boundaries left or right, and the layout can be with fixed width or fluid. Even more width of every element (header, main menu, center, footer) can be adjusted separately. Each element can have independent background color or background picture. There are much more Nova features in the works, so be patient, I think it will be worth waiting.

Also, there are a lot of other overall changes and new features, and most important fixes.

Official release date for Starscape 1.3.0 Cygnus is 4.july 2008.

After some two weeks of work, here is new major revision of Starscape theme, code named Hydra. This revision contains a lot of behind the scenes changes that will allow new important design features I am working on for the next Cygnus revision. More on the Cygnus preview will be available in the next 5 or 6 days.

As for the changes, detailed list is available on the theme page, so check it out. And if you continue to read this article, I will point to some of the highlights of Hydra.
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