Comments on: Firefox usage by country: the browser wars are back http://jamesmckay.net/2006/12/firefox-usage-by-country-the-browser-wars-are-back/ because there are few things that are less logical than business logic Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:27:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: James http://jamesmckay.net/2006/12/firefox-usage-by-country-the-browser-wars-are-back/comment-page-1/#comment-3806 James Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:44:10 +0000 http://www.jamesmckay.net/2006/12/firefox-usage-by-country-the-browser-wars-are-back/#comment-3806 I'd agree wholeheartedly. I never said we shouldn't develop for Internet Explorer -- on the contrary, since it still has the lion's share of the market, we can't afford to ignore it. However, there is no denying the fact that IE -- especially IE 6 -- is a right royal pain for developers at times. Indeed, some companies such as <a href="http://37signals.blogs.com/products/2008/07/basecamp-phasin.html" rel="nofollow">37signals no longer support IE6</a> even though it still has a large enough market share to make this move raise an eyebrow or two. As with everything else, there's a tradeoff here. Continuing to support old, legacy browsers will maybe enlarge your user base, but dropping support for them allows you to innovate and get to market faster. It's a case of where your priorities lie, and only you and your clients will be able to agree on that. Personally I think the best guide for which browsers to support is the <a href="http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/articles/gbs/index.html" rel="nofollow">Yahoo! UI Library Graded Browser Support scheme</a>. By their reckoning, IE6 still qualifies for A-grade support and will probably continue to do so for quite some time to come. I’d agree wholeheartedly. I never said we shouldn’t develop for Internet Explorer — on the contrary, since it still has the lion’s share of the market, we can’t afford to ignore it. However, there is no denying the fact that IE — especially IE 6 — is a right royal pain for developers at times. Indeed, some companies such as 37signals no longer support IE6 even though it still has a large enough market share to make this move raise an eyebrow or two.

As with everything else, there’s a tradeoff here. Continuing to support old, legacy browsers will maybe enlarge your user base, but dropping support for them allows you to innovate and get to market faster. It’s a case of where your priorities lie, and only you and your clients will be able to agree on that.

Personally I think the best guide for which browsers to support is the Yahoo! UI Library Graded Browser Support scheme. By their reckoning, IE6 still qualifies for A-grade support and will probably continue to do so for quite some time to come.

]]> By: Jim http://jamesmckay.net/2006/12/firefox-usage-by-country-the-browser-wars-are-back/comment-page-1/#comment-3805 Jim Sat, 07 Feb 2009 20:56:27 +0000 http://www.jamesmckay.net/2006/12/firefox-usage-by-country-the-browser-wars-are-back/#comment-3805 Just ran across your article. As a developer with 24 years experience, the best browser is: "The one that the end user is using." In the end, a developers' preference is meaningless, as long as the end users and clients are happy. As far as designing and operating systems: Again, the client drives the developer platform, not the other way around. For example, when I was Webmaster for the Santa Clara, CA portion of NEC, they used IBM servers and plenty of cgi, and had no intention of changing. So, I developed in cgi. For a startup here in the San Francisco Bay area approached me with their business plan for a company that supports all pc users in many companies, they inisted on a Windows Server 2008 machine, with ASPX, and .NET functions written in Visual Basic. This tied in with their laptop tools, their software, and their Pc-2-PC software diagnostics. Are they wrong? Of course not. So, my company developed in ASPX and .NET. In the end, if a developer/designer tries to artificially influence a client to use technology the developer wants and is familiar with, they dis-service their clients. Usually, what it really mens is that designers and developers are not ambitious enough to learn new things, and are likely not a good choice for a company to use. My company develops in all scripting languages, servers, and architetures. This has made us solvent in the recession and we have more work than we can handle. Opinions are plentiful, but solutions for the client needs are the first priority. Just ran across your article.
As a developer with 24 years experience, the best browser is: “The one that the end user is using.” In the end, a developers’ preference is meaningless, as long as the end users and clients are happy. As far as designing and operating systems: Again, the client drives the developer platform, not the other way around. For example, when I was Webmaster for the Santa Clara, CA portion of NEC, they used IBM servers and plenty of cgi, and had no intention of changing. So, I developed in cgi. For a startup here in the San Francisco Bay area approached me with their business plan for a company that supports all pc users in many companies, they inisted on a Windows Server 2008 machine, with ASPX, and .NET functions written in Visual Basic. This tied in with their laptop tools, their software, and their Pc-2-PC software diagnostics. Are they wrong? Of course not. So, my company developed in ASPX and .NET.
In the end, if a developer/designer tries to artificially influence a client to use technology the developer wants and is familiar with, they dis-service their clients. Usually, what it really mens is that designers and developers are not ambitious enough to learn new things, and are likely not a good choice for a company to use. My company develops in all scripting languages, servers, and architetures. This has made us solvent in the recession and we have more work than we can handle.
Opinions are plentiful, but solutions for the client needs are the first priority.

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