I see your point, although on my main site (3500 regular members, monthly pageviews of around 75,000) we've seen a steady drop in IE use. We are slightly skewwed since we cater to a specific 17-26 age group in the UK, and the younger ones especially tend to have computers that are new within the last 2 years. But grabbing our analytics for the past month;
IE - 38.48% Firefox - 29.65% Safari - 16.22% (inc iPhone) Chrome - 13.64% Opera - 1.19% Of the IE users, 30.7% are not using version 8 (most of those are using 7). So basically only around 12% of our total users are not using a modern browser. Our view is that we will not compromise the experience for the other ~90% to accomodate them when they could easily update in under 5 minutes. We were concerned this policy might hurt our user numbers, but infact found it had the opposite effect. By improving the user experience, we have provided a platform that is better than our competitors who are pegged back by trying to support IE6. We also get far fewer queries/ complaints about the site not working. Furthermore, because we have a mainly re-visiting member audience we have been able to promote the uptake of new browsers within this group - improving both their online experience and security. At any rate, its a matter of personal preference clearly and I didn't want to hijack this with an essay - but wanted to add some context and data to my early commments. On Jul 25, 4:32 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > On Jul 25, 5:26 am, Kesuke <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Personally I like broswer detection scripts. I use a 'high-standards' > > version, where I won't accept anything below firefox 3, IE8 and > > similar. The key thing is to make sure you direct people to a message > > explaining why they weren't able to see your site and how they can > > upgrade (rather than just stone-walling them). > > > These days installing browsers is f*ing ridiculously easy, and most > > operating systems prompt or automate the process. So my logic is that > > users have a duty to keep their browser up to date - otherwise a > > minority are holding back the website (and indeed the entire web) for > > everybody. > > Where I work (as in many large companies) the IT department does not > allow me to install software. There is a corporate standard, and > right now it is IE6... > > So you are preventing me from using your website during the majority > of the day... > > -- Larry > > > > > > > The broad range of available browsers has created an environment where > > it is now the job of the browsers to accomodate US as developers (gone > > are the days of having to bend over backwards to get IE6 working!) - > > because users have demonstrated they will happily jump ship to > > platforms with the best user experience. Hence why IE went from a > > market share of 95% in 2003 to 60% in 2010 :) > > > On Jul 25, 8:56 am, Pil <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Browser sniffers are generally not a good practice. Even in this case > > > I wouldn't use them nor recommend them for the follwing reasons: > > > > IE 7 is supported whereas IE 6 is not. There is not much difference > > > between those out-dated browsers, so I'd expectt that IE 6 can in fact > > > execute and diplay most of the maps features. > > > > FF 3+ is supported whereas FF 2 is not. FF 2 is (compared to IE 6 and > > > 7) a highly develepod and modern browser. So I'd expect that FF 2 is > > > able to display all of the maps without problems. > > > > Opera isn't officially supported althought it's a modern and up to > > > date browser - although with slight failures here and there. All in > > > all I think it's not a sufficient reason to exclude this browser > > > because it isn't supported. > > > > There are a few other Mozilla flavoured browsers whose abilities can > > > be compared with newer Firefoxes, althought their identity > > > (i.e .userAgent string) is different. Again no good idea to exclude > > > them. > > > > On Jul 24, 9:28 pm, Joseph Elfelt <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Oops - Looks like a space sneaked into the link to the browser detect > > > > code snip. Try this one: > > > > htttp://www.mappingsupport.com/forum_post/browser_detect.txt-Hidequoted > > > > text - > > > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google Maps JavaScript API v3" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-maps-js-api-v3?hl=en.
