Go dark for IE - October 26, 2012

[f0dder]

People who are still on XP could slap on Chrome or FireFox?

People still using IE6 are probably
a) ignorant that there's better browsers around
or
b) working for some fat, lethargic corporation that could use a little lesson

(OK, both the fox and chrome are fatter and slower than IE6, but if you're on a system that's so hardware-limited that it can't drive one of those browsers, it probably wouldn't be very fun to visit websites that are advanced enough to actually require a newer browser...)

[rgdot]

People who are still on XP could slap on Chrome or FireFox?

People still using IE6 are probably
a) ignorant that there's better browsers around
or
b) working for some fat, lethargic corporation that could use a little lesson

(OK, both the fox and chrome are fatter and slower than IE6, but if you're on a system that's so hardware-limited that it can't drive one of those browsers, it probably wouldn't be very fun to visit websites that are advanced enough to actually require a newer browser...)

-f0dder (August 19, 2012, 02:01 PM)

Ouch 

[wraith808]

I decided to try putting in "www.google.com"

Seems it worked...
 (see attachment in previous post)

-Stephen66515 (August 19, 2012, 01:34 PM)

They already removed it.

Nevermind... I saw that the links that they show are random.  Why wait until closer to 10/26 to show the whole list at one time?

[jgpaiva]

Why wait until closer to 10/26 to show the whole list at one time?

-wraith808 (August 19, 2012, 02:25 PM)

I suspect that they will try to get confirmations from the people who submitted their sites to the list. At least that's what I'd do before releasing a "final" list.

[superboyac]

People generally use whatever works for them. Punishing them is not an effective way to encourage  them to change. If websites just stop jumping through all those hoops they allegedly do to support older browsers, people will eventually migrate over to what works. That's how it's always worked in the past. Those people who are unwilling (or can't for technical reasons) upgrade will become a new market and income opportunity for those sites that do continue to support their browser versions.

Web developers and hosts need to get over themselves a little. This isn't the 90s any more. The web's era of the child-king webmaster and the techno-elite is largely over. The Internet has already become a commodity. And it will soon become just another public utility - no different than electricity, water, and sewage treatment. Time to get with the new reality folks!

Openness and 'come as you are' has always been the rule of the web. How is this "go dark" initiative any different from the thinking of certain governments when they propose to establish an official web access client? And are these people who propose the web "go dark" the same people protesting closed ecosystems whenever Apple and Microsoft attempt to play that game? Or who rebel against any attempt to dictate to them how they operate their websites?

If so, it's a sad state of affairs.

I can see a time in the not too distant future when I put an old school Fido BBS system on a Raspberry Pi and walk away from all this browser nonsense once and for all. And after talking to a few other folks, I now know I'm not the only one thinking about doing it.
 

-40hz (August 19, 2012, 08:16 AM)

well said.

[iphigenie]

I can't count how many times some stupid browser detection rules caught me as collateral damage - either too new a version (after a new release), or Opera etc. I typically tweet how lame they are, and never go back.

First, if you are going to block IE 8 then you ought to block older Firefox, early chrome, people who have older smartphones (how dare they not buy a new one every 6 months!) and pretty much every release of Safari. And you probably will end up blocking people on Linux or BSD by mistake - or people using secure/solid IE derivative browsers. And everyone on XP that can't run FF or chrome. That's a lot of people to call names and antagonise.

And blocking people on older computers might make sense if you're selling only to the digital crowd, but even then, be careful. You might be surprised what people are using outside the "i have the latest computer to impress my friends" crowd.

If you can't put in the effort to support ie 6, 7, 8 (or opera) then that is fine. Understandable considering some of the hacks on has to do, the knowledge it requires and all the testing effort. But you don't have to be an ass about it and cast judgment on people and rub their noses in it.

And if it is to put some of the annoying new features of modern web design that make a site hard to use, navigate and impossible to bookmark, well then, I have no sympathy for you.

Websites ought to be designed for their users, not used for their designer to compete in the cool leagues of featuritis...

oops, soapbox alert. getting off

[KynloStephen66515]

I can't count how many times some stupid browser detection rules caught me as collateral damage - either too new a version (after a new release), or Opera etc. I typically tweet how lame they are, and never go back.

First, if you are going to block IE 8 then you ought to block older Firefox, early chrome, people who have older smartphones (how dare they not buy a new one every 6 months!) and pretty much every release of Safari. And you probably will end up blocking people on Linux or BSD by mistake - or people using secure/solid IE derivative browsers. And everyone on XP that can't run FF or chrome. That's a lot of people to call names and antagonise.

And blocking people on older computers might make sense if you're selling only to the digital crowd, but even then, be careful. You might be surprised what people are using outside the "i have the latest computer to impress my friends" crowd.

If you can't put in the effort to support ie 6, 7, 8 (or opera) then that is fine. Understandable considering some of the hacks on has to do, the knowledge it requires and all the testing effort. But you don't have to be an ass about it and cast judgment on people and rub their noses in it.

And if it is to put some of the annoying new features of modern web design that make a site hard to use, navigate and impossible to bookmark, well then, I have no sympathy for you.

Websites ought to be designed for their users, not used for their designer to compete in the cool leagues of featuritis...

oops, soapbox alert. getting off

-iphigenie (August 21, 2012, 03:52 AM)

I couldn't agree more...I can't tell you how many times I have seen "You are using an outdated browser" or "IE6 ALERT", when using the latest versions of Opera (I update as soon as its available) - Even when using FF and Chrome, I have run into that, because people who like to call themselves "Web Designers" (Irritating kids who use dreamweaver and steal code from around to web to hack a crappy site together) use code they think "Only blocks IE6" and actually blocks anybody using ANYTHING OTHER THAN ONE SPECIFIC BROWSER...

Irritates the utter hell out of me...and at the moment, I am highly strung and sleep deprived, so could go on a rant for many many hours, so I shall shush now 

[yksyks]

I was thinking more about all the poor public schools—at least in our country—that can’t afford anything new and are desperately grateful for some rich bank donating them a couple of PCs freshly recovered from a trash bin. So they are condemned to WinXP, thus IE8, as usually there’s no one capable or willing to install something more “civilized” on all the school machines.

Well, s**t happens on that day, just hundreds of upset children.

In the end, it might be a good lesson for the pupils. At least they would see for themselves that Internet is the same as the real society—full of hatred, bigots, and freaks of all kind. Definitely not the intended outcome, but if that helps them to get more careful in cyberspace, then well done.

[TaoPhoenix]

Irritates the utter hell out of me...and at the moment, I am highly strung and sleep deprived, so could go on a rant for many many hours, so I shall shush now  

-Stephen66515 (August 21, 2012, 04:10 AM)

No no you're doing it wrong! Rants for many hours can make $! Contact me for Talk Show Opportunities!
Signed, "Your Consultant"  

P.S. See me in the basement for an update on THAT topic!