[thelist] Will Netscape 6 make our job easier?

[Peter-Paul Koch]

>PC Version is not bad, if a bit sluggish. Mac version is not only
>ultra sluggish but fails to load one out of three pages.

Yep, Mac version is generally worse than Windows.

>But wait! At first glance CSS seems to be *way* better improved, so
>that even form elements are almost identical to my Explorer version.

Improved over which browser? If you compare it to NN4, it could hardly have 
worse CSS. As to IE, yes, it's somewhat better.

>Could we be approaching an era where CSS and HTML are promoted to
>from agonizing to merely painful? Is the release (and acceptance) of
>this version the boundary of easier times to come?
>
>Waddya think?

Nope. Although I hope Netscape 6 will make a big hit and that it'll steal 
back some market share from IE, its release simply means the continuation of 
the Netscape/Explorer struggle. In market share IE has won, but if you care 
about creating correct cross-browser CSS/JS you'll quickly find that each 
browser has its own quirks and that it's the same story as with IE4 vs. NN4, 
IE3 vs. NN3 etc.

On the other hand, CSS being agonizing is mainly NN4's fault, so something 
should change for better. If you remove NN4 from your problem list, CSS all 
of a sudden promotes to being useful, not agonizing.

My guess is that when (if) the NN4 users switch to 6, we'll get a hell of an 
easier time to do CSS. Of course, then we want to do more with CSS and will 
find new browser inconsistencies. In about six months IE5 on Windows will be 
the main causer of trouble.

ppk

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