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Mac OS X: State Of The Browsers

Posted by timothy on from the but-apple-is-doomed dept.

NetCurl writes "Ars Technica is running a Macintosh Browser Smackdown feature. We've come a long way in the OS X browser experience, and the article delves into the details like only Ars can. This is a great breakdown of nine browsers in all. Let the browser war reignite..."

2 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. But it's not a war by gidds · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Yes, I agree - it's great that we have several convincing browsers to choose from.

    But it's not a war. No browser is trying to squeeze the others out of business. None is using dirty trick, sly marketing, or deliberate incompatibilities to gain market share. None is linked to other software - and most importantly, none is linked directly into the OS. Even Apple's own browser is merely a straight option from those available, with no special advantages. The browsers compete - inasmuch as they compete at all - on a completely level playing field, the only differences being that of cost and technical merit. These are great days.

    --

    Ceterum censeo subscriptionem esse delendam.

  2. Lesson learned: Make noise, make noise, make noise by AvantLegion · · Score: 5, Insightful
    If a web server looks at their logs and sees that page requests from non-IE browsers are very low, percentage-wise, they will not be compelled to give anything else a second thought.

    On the other hand, if *everyone* in that 3% complains when a feature on the site doesn't work on anything except IE, suddenly their support inboxes are dominated by demands, and that 3% doesn't seem so small and ignorable anymore.

    If you go to a website that doesn't work right in your browser, e-mail them (without being hostile) and explain to them your displeasure with the incompatibility and implore them to support web standards and non-IE browsers. Feel free to toss in a little "we don't desire a Microsoft-only Internet" rhetoric if you so wish, but keep it brief and understated. Even if you can get into the site by using a header spoof trick or whathaveyou, please still take the time to fire a quick email their way.

    You can even have a "form" email that you keep saved just for such use, which is probably a good idea. Do have a place where you can specifically mention what part of the site doesn't work correctly (assuming it's not the whole site, a la BuyMusic).

    It's important to start making noise now, and let the noise grow as the non-MS browsers gain more widespread use.

    This isn't a case of "Microsoft == bad". This is a case of web developers needing to think beyond "Microsoft Browser on Microsoft Platform". IE will work with standards-compliant pages just fine.