Older web browsers and stylesheets
I recently received more feedback on the redesigned ApplePickers website. Some good and some not so good. One in particular which was not so good regarded Netscape 6.2.3 running on Mac OS 9. Using this browser there are several problems accessing site content.
This opened my eyes to something I should have paid more attention to. Unfortunately in my current situation I am only testing the sites I create in current browsers on relatively current operating systems. Using web standards I know that much of my work is rendered nearly the same in most web browsers. However, there are differences.
In many cases Netscape plays by different rules. I understand that there are may people out there who are using outdated operating systems such as Mac OS 9 or Windows 9x and cannot use current web browsers. Part of me feels that I should not worry about these people. Some people are happy with their outdated web browsers since they probably go by the motto “If it is not broke, don’t fix it.”
On the other hand I feel that I am shutting out people who may use older browsers, especially Netscape. This may not be a huge deal, but what if the guy who gave me feedback never goes back to the website. Maybe he does not want to use a different browser or even upgrade his operating system. That is fine and have no problems with that.
In the future I will do my best to make my sites function on as many browsers and platforms as possible.
No related posts were found, so here's a consolation prize:
8 Ways To Fight Climate Change.
Supporting broken browsers like Netscape, regardless of it’s iteration is foolhardy.
It may be harsh, but if you use such a bogus ad filled browser then oh well – might be ugly for you.
If you did make your site look OK in IE 6 and Firefox 1-1.5 you did your job – hacks and extra rules for crappy browsers doesn’t buy anybody anything. The consumer/user need to upgrade – should’nt be an issue will all the “upgrading” Apple and MS require these days.