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Dropped IE support for Instapaper

marco.org

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Re: Dropped IE support for Instapaper

#41

Post by nonrecursive »

SystemOut wrote: post #34
eli wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can tell you with some authority that if you're targeting corporate users, about 2/3 of the traffic is internet explorer. Worse is that about 40% of that IE traffic is IE6.

Did you read the post? He said less than 10% of his traffic is IE6. I'd say he is making the right call based on those demographics. When you look at resource decisions you have to look at the target market...and somehow I don't think it's corporate. If he was targeting corporate users he'd probably also build a Crackberry app. And your 40% is just way off base unless you're writing salesforce.com apps or something l…

I think eli was replying to the parent comment, not commenting on the article.

Also, 40% of 2/3 is about 26% of the whole, which I wouldn't call "wildly off base" even for your site.

Re: Dropped IE support for Instapaper

#42

Post by billroberts »

noblethrasher wrote: post #9
kirse wrote: post #8

I despise websites that do this because I have to use IE7 at work. This is probably the second fastest way for me to banish your website from memory besides being spam. Everyone on here talks about making the sign-up process as easy as possible, and requiring someone to download and install an entirely new application is about as complex and uninviting as one can get. Us "technical" people are still people, and the m…

Yes, but it's not usually one bug. A bug here and a bug there and pretty soon you're talking about real money. IE7 isn't so bad but I'm seriously contemplating dropping support for IE6 very soon.

I agree totally. We decided a while back that we wouldn't attempt to support IE6 - life is too short. We do support IE7, but still spend a lot of time on fixes and workarounds for minor incompatibilities. If our stuff works on Firefox, it generally works on Safari too, with no extra effort, but an oft-repeated phrase in our company is an exasperated "f*^&&ing IE!"

Re: Dropped IE support for Instapaper

#43

Post by dant »

I'm not surprise this is happening, I expect that it will happen more in future. Windows and IE may have only lost a few percentage points of market share over the past few years, but those few percentage points represent a generation of technology enthusiasts who will, I suspect, have a big impact on the way the internet evolves.

When someone who doesn't run Windows or IE builds a site for their peers who predominately don't run Windows or IE either, then finds that they have to jump through some hoops to support IE, is it any wonder they decide to pass?

Re: Dropped IE support for Instapaper

#46

Post by lacker »

adnymarc wrote: post #3
cschep wrote: post #2

I love this. If everyone did this, then Microsoft would lose the power to do whatever it wanted. Standards compliance would not be optional for them anymore. I hope this is a trend that continues.

I agree and think this is especially relevant for sites and apps that target tech-savvy users - as a group they will most likely already be using a browser other than IE and even if they do will be more likely to understand the reason for lack of total cross browser compatibility. If this became a trend it would begin to do one of two things - either cause Microsoft to consider adopting web standards compliance or ca…

Unfortunately a lot of users are already adopting alternate browsers, but it doesn't reduce the pain of web development until IE6 becomes a negligible part of the market. What could help more than anything is if Microsoft took a stronger stance on forcing users to upgrade from IE6 to IE7. Once IE6 drops below perhaps 5-10% of the market it becomes ignorable. But for IE as a whole to become negligible - I wish I could but I don't see that day any time soon.

Re: Dropped IE support for Instapaper

#47

Post by swombat »

pj wrote: post #21

The web is a public good and as such, we should have /one/ standards compliant browser that works on any device that can access it. Fund it with taxes, just like roads, bridges, and the new electric grid Obama is going to buy us... Microsoft should just stop working on IE and concentrate on the OS. We don't need Opera, Chrome, Safari, IE, Firefox, etc... They're /all/ free. Take the best of them all and build /one/.

"build /one/" has proven time and again to be a failing strategy if you want that /one/ to be any good.

Re: Dropped IE support for Instapaper

#48

Post by greyman »

sam_in_nyc wrote: post #30

I'm under the impression that this site doesn't do all that much. Ok... you store URLs, then mark them as "read" and "unread." Not necessarily a good or bad thing.. I'm sure it's incredibly useful. That's not my point. My point is, how can a 2 page website drop support for a whole browser? Just seems like laziness to me.

Exactly my thought, it's a simple bookmarking application. And I can't run it on IE7 because author must use rounded corners and at the same time doesn't want to go through the hassle to implement them under IE. ;-)

Re: Dropped IE support for Instapaper

#49

Post by pj »

swombat wrote: post #47
pj wrote: post #21

The web is a public good and as such, we should have /one/ standards compliant browser that works on any device that can access it. Fund it with taxes, just like roads, bridges, and the new electric grid Obama is going to buy us... Microsoft should just stop working on IE and concentrate on the OS. We don't need Opera, Chrome, Safari, IE, Firefox, etc... They're /all/ free. Take the best of them all and build /one/.

"build /one/" has proven time and again to be a failing strategy if you want that /one/ to be any good.

Not true. We have /one/ interstate system. We have /one/ electric grid. We have /one/ internet. Most people have one water/sewer system. These things have worked fine for many years.

Just extrapolate the situation from what it is to where it would be if there were 100 browsers and they all worked differently. /Then/ how productive would developers be?

Look at the recent post from instapaper not supporting IE anymore. Look at how much time and energy is lost due to browser incompatibilities that would be solved if all content looked the same in all of them.

Imagine some new electricity company coming on board saying, "Yeah, but we want to pump DC into the grid."

It would never happen, yet, because no one setting policy understands the internets, they don't understand how much productivity is being lost due to competition in the browser market.

Competition is not always good. Almost assuredly not in cases of public infrastructure. Look around the world at privatizations of water systems, utilities, etc in poor countries around the world. Costs almost /always/ go up.

Competition is good in some areas and bad in other areas and when we /all/ need to be on the same page, collaboration is better than competition.

Re: Dropped IE support for Instapaper

#50

Post by known »

cschep wrote: post #2

I love this. If everyone did this, then Microsoft would lose the power to do whatever it wanted. Standards compliance would not be optional for them anymore. I hope this is a trend that continues.

67.44% use IE http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qp...
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