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

aardvark roselli at earthlink.net
Thu Jul 12 00:40:23 CDT 2001


> From: "Keith" <cache at dowebs.com>
> 
> Good point, tell Tom Edison, Al Bell, and Tim Berners-Lee they 
> were idiots for "creating an item and then having  to teach people how
> to use it".  Shame on them for thinking thoughts that everyone has

the phone was brand new... what's so new about your site?  
hypertext was brand new, are you not using it?  the light bulb?  is 
your site navigation and content *that* revolutionary that you would 
compare it to a light bulb?

no, it's a *web* page, and people have certain expectations, certain 
usability rules still apply, and old-school marketing tactics about 
customer loyalty still rule...

don't insult 'em, don't kick 'em out, and keep 'em happy... simple 
goal, don't lose sight of it because it's easier to code one way over 
another... learn another way to do it, it's pretty damn easy...

> never thought before! What the hell is this world coming to when
> progress cannot be held off by a grandma and her NN3.02?

she's not stopping progress... she's helping ensure that we don't 
leave her in the dust as we push the bounds... yes, it can be 
done...

> Who on this list still programs BBS access? Who will still be

i never did, and you know that's the case with probably 90% of the 
people here, so it's kind of a loaded question... who here is still 
hand-stringing the carbon filaments in their light bulbs?  it's just as 
silly a question... BBSs aren't the web...

> "degrading gracefully" for NN2.02 in 2009 when it's 15 years old? Does
> anyone here still drive a crank started automobile?  The question of
> leaving old browsers in the dust is simply a question of "if not now,
> when; if not here, where".  The time will even come when none of us
> remember how to code that old dead language named HTML.

and when HTML is dead, so will be the older browsers... but until 
then, if i'm still outputting HTML in 2009, guess what, my attempt 
to build pages that are accessible (speech browsers, for example) 
will probably ensure NN2.x users can use a site, even if it don't 
look quite right...

will things in 2009 be so different?  who knows... i don't really care 
because it's a silly prospect... it doesn't help me build good sites 
now...

> Don't let the "holier than thou" responses to your post get to ya
> Brian, change happens, they'll get over it.  And hey, I refuse to open
> IE unless I'm paid damned good money to do so. I'm a loyal Netscape
> fan, but I'll get over it....

they aren't holier than thou, when he framed his thoughts in a very 
specific light, nobody disagrees... when he argues that his opinions 
should be our mantra and they are applicable to all sites and 
developers who don't think that way are idiots, well, he's gonna get 
his frame re-aligned...





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