On Tuesday, June 8, 2004, at 08:11 PM, Giles Clark wrote: <snip>
Isn't it about time we took a more active role in shaping the future of
browsers. We could clearly state that as a community we write/develop for a
list of acceptable browsers which comply to standards (we're just going to
have to live wiht IE - market forces). Hopefully non-compliant browsers
would simply not be developed, because the pages would break in it. If a new
browser complies then it can see the pages we have developed. No worries.
</snip - original post for full version>
'We're just going to have to live with IE' - there's the rub.
Over and over, in these threads, we see developers aiming their work at IE 'because it's the browser used by most people'. And why's that? Because it's integrated with the OS of the most popular computing platform on the planet. Never mind that it, and the OS, are lemons. The 'market forces' are one of the most successful business enterprises in history. IE is here to stay, whether we like it or not.
Suggesting that we build sites that break in the most used browser and then telling the frustrated site visitors that their software's not up to it is committing our clients to commercial suicide. You'd probably be amazed, and alarmed, at the proportion of people out there that don't even know that they have a choice when it comes to browsers. They use what comes pre-loaded on their PC; they allow auto updates (maybe); they get a new browser when they get a new PC.
As developers, we need to remember that not all our site visitors spend as many hours in front of their PCs as we do. They don't understand Standards, and they don't want to. Their maxim: 'Don't make me think.' If a site works, fine. Our clients, with our help, can communicate with them, hopefully in a meaningful way. If it doesn't, we've lost them. And they won't be back. All they know, or care about, is that 'this site doesn't work'. There's a hundred mores sites just waiting in the wings to supply whatever yours couldn't.
The best route to change of a system you don't agree with is from within. Get a job at Microsoft, and bring all the influence to bear that you can to ensure that their next generation browser - codenamed Wombat, or Aardvaark, or whatever it is - is Standards compliant. But let's be realistic: legacy browsers, pain in the arse that they are, aren't going away for a few years yet. So let's make our sites work in them. We're in the communication business, yes?
(Note: 'Clients' means anyone a site is being built for - including yourself. Doesn't mean money has to change hands.)
I think that's 3c - Nick ___________________________ Omnivision. Websight. http://www.omnivision.com.au/
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