[thelist] Old Browsers old Software, cut bait and move on.

[Joe Crawford]

Cut bait?

Depends.

Let's say you're a city agency, catering to the public, as in, a whole
city. Let's say that site is relatively simple to access, degrades to
html 3.2 type specs. You can expect 5% of your visitors to be using
Netscape 3. I know because I was in on drafting a proposal for a revamp
and a CMS for these folks. And In Apr-Jun 2001, they had 5% of their
traffic Netscape 3.

Cut bait? Force visitors to upgrade? Not for them.

And the thing is, most folks don't take the time to figure out who their
audience is, then they lock their site to some standard of what browsers
they support. Then they're delighted to see that they get hits from the
browsers they support. 

Now, is that the dog wagging the tail? Or the tail wagging the dog?

I think when folks decide the cutoff for what browsers they will support
they're making some simple technical decision. Actually, they're making
a /business/ decision. Too often, they should not be empowered in that
way.

The book to read (which actually doesn't address the web very much, but
applies like crazy here) on this is:
  The Inmates Are Running The Asylum
  Alan Cooper
  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672316498/

Also, don't be dissing your fellow evolters. That shit ain't right.

	- Joe <http://artlung.com/>