Browsers

[tinyjo]

All this fiddling around has got me thinking. I tend to imagine that we're a pretty non-standard group when it comes to browsers. The received wisdom is that between 90% and 95% of visitors who visit a site will be using IE and so you should make sure that your page renders as perfectly as possible in IE even if that means some compromises for other browsers (although this shouldn't compromise readability). Unfortunately, this is a bit of a bugger as so far it seems that IE has the worst implementation of CSS-2 (see previous entry). So, what browsers do you use?

[Poll #21084]

Comments

[zoo-music-girl.livejournal.com]

I think your poll might be biased as your friends appear to be pretty clued up on computers and more likely to use a non-standard browser.

Depends who your audience is though...

[tinyjo.livejournal.com]

That was more or less what I was thinking - given that my audience is going to be primarily my friends, which way should my decisions be skewed? Given a choice between something which looks great in Mozilla and OK in IE or vice versa, what do I go for? I suppose the answer really should be "back up and find a layout which looks great in both" but that's pretty difficult to do :)

[soulsong.livejournal.com]

Just get it over with and standardise the world on Internet Explorer. It'll be much easier for everyone.

[tinyjo.livejournal.com]

Not if they won't implement CSS properly :)

Re:

[soulsong.livejournal.com]

I'm quite adept at believing that black is white if Microsoft say so. If you wait 12 months it usually becomes true for everyone else anyway :)

[truecatachresis.livejournal.com]

Except for those who can't use Internet Explorer...

Microsoft do _not_ code for all machines or operating systems.

Microsoft do _not_ tend to do things properly.

It would be easier if Microsoft just complied with standards instead of flagrantly breaking them. It would be much _worse_ for everyone if the world standardised on Internet Explorer, because then they would have no barriers to ultimately forcing everyone to upgrade software and OS every so often. Which they really want to do, and it would turn out expensive.

This said, I am using IE and quite like it. This does not mean I think everyone else should - there are many sound and solid objections, and browser uniformity would be a very bad idea.

Re:

[soulsong.livejournal.com]

No, no, it would be a great idea.

Firstly, Microsoft code for all the operating systems that actually matter. And it doesnt matter if they dont do things *properly* because whatever they do becomes automatically defined as *proper*. It's everyone else who is non-standard.

Also, MS upgrade software much faster than anyone else. It would be unfair to make them wait for lesser, collaborative projects. Every time they upgrade their software and draw more businesses into the MS fold, they make my job as a software developer (and therefore my life) much much easier. ".NET on every platform and every device", that's what I say!

Browser uniformity is a wonderful idea. Having the same code run anywhere is a huge boon, and the only way this is going to happen is if the MS hegemony is completed. I mean, the alternative is to slow MS down and force them to adhere to limiting standards. Eww. How fascist.

Am I supposed to be able to answer this poll?

[(Anonymous)]

I’m visiting via Mozilla 0.9.8, and when I visit the ‘fill in form’ page I see checkboxes but no edit boxes and no Submit button.

For the record, I use Mozilla 0.9.8 to read the web at work, and
MSIE (Windows) 5.5 to read web sites for work (since we test our sites mainly in MSIE), and occasionally NN 4.7 for testing as well. At home I use Mozilla or Opera 4 on Linux, or MSIE (Windows) 5.5 or MSIE (Mac OS) 5. Note that MSIE (Windows) and MSIE (Mac) are different programs with different quirks. For a while the Mac version was futher ahead with standards compliance than MSIE/Windows...

—Damian

[truecatachresis.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I didn't realise you were a troll. I assumed that kind of behaviour would happen less frequently on LJ.

Re:

[soulsong.livejournal.com]

Chuckle. Not so much a troll as a piss-take of my own position of having to support Microsoft because my livelihood depends on their dominance.

I just find it intensely bizarre that whereas politically I lean towards anti-globalisation and anarchism, the software skills I've picked up over the years mean that the more Microsoft dominate every platform, the more financially secure I become. Consider my flamebait an inner scream about the cognitive dissonance. :)

Re: Am I supposed to be able to answer this poll?

[tinyjo.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. That's odd. Unfortunatly, the poll code is LJ's not mine. I'll have to drop them a note and let them know that it doesn't work in Mozilla.