Peter,

About browser warning messages...

About 8 months ago Peter (Firminger - listdad) and I took off all of our
browser warnings entirely.

The message is designed for older browsers (with significant political
reasons at the time it was developed) but it is a pain for other devices
that are forced to see this content. Three reasons to remove the message:

1. blind users are forced to read this info at the top of every page.
Despise skip menu's some blind users prefer to read into a page to get a
handle on the content. If the first thing they read is this message - on
every page - they get rather irate (I've seen this is action).

2. browsers without css support (which includes some hand held devices) have
to read the message as well - even though it does not apply to them. It may
not be appropriate for their particular device to upgrade at all. So, the
message can be confusing and misleading.

3. search engines are the biggest blind user. They index this message and
assume it is content. Try this - or any similar sort of search to see just
what Google is indexing:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22browser+does+n
ot%22&btnG=Google+Search

The reality is that this campaign had specific goals when it started -
mainly to move users who may not have been aware of browser upgrades to new
browsers. WaSP and Zeldman, who started or at least spoke loudly about this
technique have since dropped it.

The other thing to remember is that you may be able to let IE4 and NN4
browsers see a reasonable site without the need for a browser warning at
all. Do you need to tell them they are getting a slightly reduced quality
version of the site?

Again, just personal opinion.
Russ




> Regarding the accessability message, any suggestions for changing the
> wording? Is there a 'satandard' blurb? How come so many people saw
> this, did they have CSS turned off? Is it a good idea to have a link to
> browser upgrades in this message?

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