Solving the Cross-Browser Dilemma
When 7x of your 10x is used testing IE
They say that 10% of programming is writing code and the other 90% is debugging in Internet Explorer and using Bing to find photos of Jessica Alba or Harry Potter.
In the time that we are trying to make everything work in Internet Explorer, we could be making more products. Imagine how many potential Facebooks and Color Apps we have missed out on because innovation has been stifled by cross-browser errors.
The solution is sweet and simple: choose only one browser for your site to work on.
This is not a new concept. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) innovated the concept with their testing console ONLY working in Internet Explorer. This meant they had less debugging to do, support did not take as much of their time, and they never had to worry about confusing customers with the question “what browser are you using.”
Not so long after changing the game, ETS made the poor decision of adding support for Safari and Firefox. Now even more people can take the PRAXIS and GREs, meaning that there are fewer jobs left because all of these new test takers are taking them from us.
With the “problem” browser being Internet Explorer, it only makes sense that we use that as our One True Browser™. It is also the easiest browser to detect because if you ask a browser if it’s Internet Explorer, it has to tell you.
“…if you ask a browser if it’s Internet Explorer, it has to tell you.”
You may find that you have a few users who insist on using non-IE browsers. These users should be ignored, because it’s not like any of those users are Jesus Christ or Satan.
You cannot make every user on the Web happy, all you need to focus is on yourself, the web developer. By removing the complications of cross-browser experiences, you can put your time and energy into the things the technology field needs: like hunting animals, crashing drones in NYC, or defending sexism.
Steve Ballmer is a Parkour hobbyist and is passionate about open Web technologies.
